The Black Knight of Remnant
by Jay walkz
Summary: Jaune Arc has unlocked a new power that was unleashed after an unfortunate bloody event. This Dark power has now given him the strength to become something more than an average person. Is this power a gift or is it a curse? Whatever it is, Jaune intends to use it in order to bring about a better world.
1. Chapter 1 - The Night of Tragedy

**The Black Knight of Remnant**

Blood was at every corner of the woods. Butchered and dismembered bodies lay in every part of the area in their proximity. Jaune lost complete control over his body and mind and had not realized what he had done.

He fell to his knees. Tears began to stream down his face. He began to look at the body that lay before him and could not believe what had happened.

Pyrrha had sacrificed herself to save Jaune from one of the White Fang members who was about to stab Jaune with his Katana.

"Why… why, why, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY!? Jaune yelled, as he began to cradle her.

"WHY COULDN'T IT BE ME!? YOU DON'T DESERVE THIS!… I… I didn't have the strength… THE POWER TO KEEP YOU SAFE!" Jaune cried, as he looked at the amazon warrior's empty emerald eyes.

He looked at the night sky which held a shattered moon that had a blood red color. That was all he can see now with his own 2 eyes. Red, blood, darkness… he couldn't take it anymore. The lives that were lost and the people that cried as they hid from the Grimm and members of the white fang back at the city. All of this was starting to get to him.

"I… I have had it…" Jaune thought to himself as his aura that turned to darkness began to appear.

As this began, more members of the white fang were heard arriving to his location and surrounded the knight and his dead beloved.

"Did this weakling really do all this?" one of the white fang members said as he drew his weapon.

"Doubt it. It must have been several Grimm" said another, as he cautiously surrounded the devastated knight.

"It seems as though his skanky girlfriend was already taken care of. I wish I was the ones to kill that bitch though" another said, making Jaune's aura getting more intense.

"Shut up…" Jaune silently said, as the statement made him upset.

"What was that? You waste of a soul!" said the closest man who wielded a Greatsword.

"Waste of a soul?" Jaune said, as his black aura began to give form to a black armor set with yellow markings both in the front and the back. One that would make every warrior intimidated. The black aura also gave Jaune a white mask, one that would closely resemble that of what the White Fang members wore. Crocea Mors turned black with its gold yellow markings still in place. The sword increased slightly in width and length and had gold yellow carvings around it.

"What the hell is going on with him!" one yelled as they slowly backed away from the Black Knight.

"I don't know man! But he can't take on 15 of us!" another yelled as they got ready to attack.

"AAAAAARGGGGGHHHH!" Jaune screamed as he began his assault on the enemy forces.

His speed had sharply risen and he was already in front of the shocked Faunus that was ready to attack. Jaune sliced the enemy in half, not giving him any chance of using his aura to defend himself from the quick attack.

"WHAT THE HELL!? Screamed one of the Faunus, as he began to run toward the black knight.

Within seconds, Jaune was already in front of him ready to unleash a barrage of attacks. The other members of the White Fang strategically ran directly toward him as he began the assault on of the enemy's teammate. Jaune took notice and ducked as one of the enemy with the greatsword lunged in a diagonal formation cutting through his teammate in order to get to Jaune.

"Who is the wasted soul now?" Jaune said as he used his blade to cut through the Greatsword wielding soldier's leg.

Jaune quickly flipped his sword to stab the Greatsword wielder that was now laid on his back straight to his heart. But as he did, the other Faunus began to use his sub machine gun straight at him. This however, was futile as he shielded himself from his attack using his left arm. After ending the Greatsword wielder, Jaune proceeded with his assault to the others. One was caught running away from the battlefield, knowing that he had no chance of winning.

"You are not going anywhere" he said, as he chased down the terrified Faunus.

Jaune threw his black imbued sword towards the Faunus with great aim that went right at the Faunus's head.

Blood… pools of blood now lay on the ground. One might even say that the area was an ocean of blood. The bloody black knight once again fell to his knees in front of the blood red amazon woman that laid emotionless on the floor.

Jaune carried Pyrrha in a cradle position, as if he were holding a newborn baby back to the city. It took hours to walk back, but to Jaune… it seemed like days. When he finally arrived in beacon, many bodies lay on the ground. Fire surrounded the area, and as the fire was raging, it began to rain. Jaune looked at the night sky and realized that dark clouds had already formed when he was walking back to the city. He looked back down and continued walking towards the school.

As he walked, he could hear the screams of people yelling for help, but Jaune did nothing and continued walking down the cracked road. As he looked what was in front of him, he noticed that the attacks had stopped. The huntsmen and atlas soldiers managed to make the White Fang soldiers retreat and had wiped out the Grimm. When he finally arrived into the school, team RWBY, Ren, Nora, and many other students were gathered to figure out what to do next.

Ruby had turn around when she heard the breathing of a man from her opposite direction.

"Jaune?" Ruby said as the rest of the team turned around and stared at the pale face that stood before them with a horrified expression that spoke a thousand words. His body, covered in his partner's blood from carrying her all the way from the forest.

"I'm sorry" Jaune said as his light blue eyes began to shed tears again as he collapsed to his knees with his beloved still on his arms.

 ***This is my first fanfiction everyone… please go easy on me. I wanted to make this fanfiction of Jaune because he seems like the type of person who would easily get corrupted by the dark if he were to lose someone close to him. As you can see, the Arkos ship has sunk straight to down, however I have planned of starting a Ruby x Jaune Ship, but if you have other suggestions, feel free to tell me and I might reconsider. I am not sure if you guys would like me to continue on with this story, but if you do then be sure to leave a favorite or something that would tell me that you want more. I will see you guys later.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Shaky Emotions

**Chapter 2 – Shaky Emotions**

Ruby and the rest of the team quickly ran towards the collapsed knight that could no longer stand. Their faces gave a horrified look, a look that made it seem as the world was about to end. Their faces were just as horrifying as Jaune's face.

"WHAT HAPPENED!" said ruby loudly, as she looked at the knights terrified light blue eyes.

The rest of the students that were there turned around at the sound of Ruby's yell.

"Who is that? It looks like she's dead." one of the students said, as she looked on at team RWBY and NR (Nora and Ren) who were trying to grasp what had happened.

"Isn't that Pyrrha Nikkos?" another said loudly.

"Hey it is! How could this have happen?" a student in the front row said.

"Ruby… get Yang and Blake and tell them to come help pull Pyrrha out of his arms." Ren told Ruby as he proceeded to kneel down in front of the crestfallen knight.

"Jaune tell me… how did this happen?" Ren said as he held the shoulders of his friend who would be considered close to a brother after spending many months with the blonde knight.

Blake and Yang proceeded to pull the fallen huntress from the knight's arms.

"NO! DON'T TOUCH HER!" Jaune exclaimed, as he struggled to hold on to the amazon woman.

"SHE CAN STILL BE SAVED! We just need doctors…" Jaune said.

"LOOK AT ME JAUNE!" Ren yelled, as he shook Jaune trying to get his attention.

"SHE'S DEAD!" Ren yelled to him, trying to get him to understand that she is no longer alive.

"He said that she's dead." One student said.

"How can Pyrrha Nikkos die? She is the best Huntress in the school, probably one of the best in all of Remnant."

"It's probable that she was trying to protect that blonde scrawny weakling. Everyone knew that she had feelings for the coward"

Jaune grinded his teeth after he heard the statement. A voice with sadness and despair yelled.

"BE QUIIIEEEET!" yelled Weiss.

"INSTEAD OF JUST STANDING AROUND, GET HELP!" She yelled at the students who slowly backed away and proceeded to get help.

"I… I wasn't strong enough" Jaune said as his voice began to crack.

"This isn't your fault Jaune. You can't blame yourself for not being able to save her." Ren told the Knight who couldn't agree to what Ren had just said.

"She sacrificed herself to SAVE ME!" Jaune exclaimed.

"ME! … a weakling who gets stuck on trees, a weakling who shouldn't even be here in the first place!"

Blake and Yang managed to pull Pyrrha out of Jaune's arms and helped the medical team carry her onto the stretcher.

By simply looking, Ruby could feel Jaune's pain. She can feel his despair… his sadness. Tears ran down her fragile face. Looking at the knight made her feel as if she lost someone so close to her, causing it to break her heart in 2.

"Jaune… let me help you get on the stretcher. You need to get patched up and rest." Ren said, not knowing what to else to say to the knight's statement.

Ruby quickly ran to the knight to help Ren place him onto the stretcher.

She looked at Jaune's empty eyes, eyes that no longer had a reason to live in this cruel world. Ruby was now frightened at what she was looking at. Never in her life has she seen someone with those same eyes, eyes that have come to a realization that nothing that he does will help anyone.

As she looked toward the knight that was being taken to the infirmary, she bit her lower lip to the point where it began to bleed. She was angry, outraged at the people who had done this to the soul crushed knight. Ruby wiped off the remaining tears she had left and marched towards her room with Crescent Rose in her hand.

Ren and Nora walked outside and looked at the scenery. Smoke, death, and a blood red shattered moon was what they were seeing.

"Ren… what are we going to do." Nora said as she tightly held Ren's hand.

"I don't know… we'll cross that bridge when we get there." Ren said, while he pulled Nora closer to his arms

Hours later, the once red blood moon returned to its natural white color.

All the students were now asleep, trying to get the image of blood and gore out of their minds. There were a few hunters and huntresses still awake, patrolling the school and the surrounding area. Team RWBY were at their room sleeping heavily, however, one teammate remained awake. It was Ruby who couldn't sleep, knowing that her close friend is injured and devastated of the loss of a teammate. She was just staring at the shattered white moon, the moon reminded her of Jaune, the white knight she came to know. The bright white glow that the moon shined reminded of her of the kindness and generosity that Jaune was very known for. Every time she was close to him, she always felt at calm and in peace. This was something that she loved about the blonde knight. She got up and quietly walked to the infirmary room where Jaune was held, she wanted that comfort he always had. On her way to the infirmary, she bumped into Velvet Scarlatina who was patrolling inside the school.

"Sorry Velvet, I didn't see you there." Ruby said as she tried to avoid talking loudly to keep anyone from hearing.

"It's my fault Ruby. I'm a bit tired and I get really clumsy when that happens… anyways, what are you doing up so late? You should be resting."

"I should, but I couldn't sleep knowing that a close friend is in an uncomfortable spot right now and I want to just see if he is doing fine."

"You mean Jaune? I heard what happened to him and Pyrrha from other students. It's devastating what I heard, are the rumors true?"

"Yea…it's true." Ruby said, trying to avoid crying again.

"I'm sorry to hear that, I do hope all you for the best. And do send my regards to Jaune when you reach him." Velvet said with a saddened but sincere voice.

"I will"

"Oh by the way, be careful when roaming around the school or outside of it. The kidnappers will surely use this time as a perfect opportunity to kidnap people."

"Don't worry, with Crescent Rose in my hand, they will think twice before doing something like that." Ruby said, as she smirked.

"Okay, I will see you later"

Both Velvet and Ruby then walked away. Ruby felt a little happy knowing that there is someone else other than her teammates who care about Juane. Ruby finally reached the room in where Jaune was recuperating. She opened the door and saw Jaune sitting outside of the wide open window staring at the white shining moon.

"You should be asleep Ruby." Jaune said, with a calming soothing voice that would make any person feel at calm.

"I should, but it's hard to do that when someone close is in pain." Ruby said, in a caring voice.

"I guess you are right."

Ruby walked inside the room and decided to sit next to the crestfallen knight.

"I sometimes wondered… what would my life be at if I never met you or Pyrrha. Would I be living in a farm? Would I be working in a shop in some random town earning minimum wage?"

"You would have still ended up here Jaune… you want to be able to protect the…"

"Protect what? I couldn't even protect my teammate." Ruby remained silent after hearing that statement.

"Do you know my family's history? The arcs are heroes in war, fought many bloody battles and were victorious. They were inspirations to the younger generation. When my mother had me, they told me that they were happy to know that they had a boy that will continue the arc legacy, but that came to an end when my father passed away in battle when I was only 6.

Ruby put her hand on Jaune's shoulder after hearing that. When she heard about Jaune's father's death, she could feel the connection they both had.

"I didn't have any other person to help me train to become like my father. My mother wouldn't allow me to train because she feared that I would end up just like him… dead on the battlefield. I was her only son, so I can understand why she would want me to be safe, but I wanted to help the innocent people that were being terrorized by evil. I want to stop this evil force and bring peace into this world. I don't want anyone to no longer suffer." Jaune said, raising his voice slightly.

Ruby's eyes began to release tears when she saw that small smile that Jaune released after he said. Ruby now fully understood what Jaune felt. She knew now how she felt about him.

It was only a month ago when she was wounded in a confrontation from several Beowolfs. She had fought many others and began to run out of stamina and aura. She couldn't take them all on and thought that this was the end of the road for her, but out came 2 teammates that were separated from the mission. It was Jaune and Blake. Blake managed to get the Beowolfs attention which gave Jaune the opportunity to pick Ruby up and run away. She looked at the Knight that held her and what she saw amazed her. His clear blue eyes, his charming blonde hair, and his elegant face that seemed like if he were an angel sent from heaven to come rescue her.

That's where here feelings began and she now acknowledges that she is indeed in love with the white knight that stood before her.

"You still can save those you love. Life is meant to be hard time to time, and you can't let that stop you from achieving your dream." Ruby said as she leaned closer to the knight.

"But I'm usel…" Jaune gets cut off

"No you're not. You managed to stay alive all this time, and as a leader you were able to keep your team alive. Tell me, would you let someone else lead? Knowing that they can fail as a leader and cause your friends to die? Knowing that you could have been the person to be able to save them?" Ruby said, as she stared at him.

Jaune looked at the delicate rose whose face was a few inches away from his. Her innocent and sincere grey eyes, her soft and gentle hand that was pressed against his left face, her statements about the situation, all these things made Jaune realize that there are still something to live for, something to keep him going. He has friends who are still relying on him, he has friends who do care for him, and he has something to bring to the world and intends on spreading it.

"Thank you Ruby…" Jaune said, putting a small sincere smile on his face.

Ruby leaned forward to him, trying to close the gap between them, aiming for the Blonde's lips.

Footsteps were then heard coming towards the door which made Ruby quickly back off from Jaune's face and get up.

The door opened and came in Velvet. Ruby's face turned red like her cloak when she saw Velvet staring at the two. Jaune didn't understand what was going to happen when Ruby leaned towards him and didn't think too much of it.

"Ruby what are you still doing here. It's been nearly an hour now and why are the lights off?" Velvet said, with a surprised look as she turned the light on.

"Ummm I kinda lost track of time. You see I was…" Ruby said, as she luckily gets cut off by Jaune.

"Ruby was cheering me up. I was feeling down and she wanted to cheer me up. As you can see it took quite a while but she was able to do it" Jaune said to the Faunus.

"Yeah that's right. That is what I was doing!" Ruby said loudly, trying not blush.

"Oh, okay. Well I think you should really head back to bed, professor Ozpin told me to keep guard by Jaune's room and doesn't want anyone visiting him till morning." Said velvet.

"Well it is late. I can see why he doesn't want anyone visiting. Why is he still awake anyways?" Jaune said as he looked somewhat interested.

"He didn't say why, but I wouldn't consider it weird of him staying up this late knowing that trouble can come at any given hour. That and he is always drinking that special coffee of his." Velvet responded, with a slight chuckle.

"Yea I guess you're right" Jaune said.

"Well I guess I will be heading off Jaune, sleep well". Ruby said, speed walking towards the exit.

Everyone left the room now and Jaune returned to his bed.

"I will become better… I will protect my friends." Jaune said as he slowly fell asleep.

 **Here is chapter 2. It seems some people enjoyed the first chapter and I am really enjoying making these chapters when I have the time. Although there wasn't action, there was some stuff that people like. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and as always, if you enjoyed reading it, leave a favorite and a follow if you want to be alerted for more chapters. I will see you all later.**


	3. Chapter 3 - The Truth

**Chapter 3: The Truth**

Days passed by and most of the students started their daily routine. Getting up, attending class, but also still helping out the custodians with the aftermath of the battle. Team RWBY and NR decided to go see their friend at the infirmary.

"I really hope he is ok. I can't imagine the kind of pain he is going through right now." Yang said with a worried look.

"I think it would be best if we give him more time to himself. Something like that isn't something that anyone can get over in days." Blake recommended.

"What he needs are his friends to comfort him and show him that we are here for him." Ruby said with a serious tone.

Finally, they reached the room he was in, they opened the door to see that he wasn't in his bed or by the window where Ruby almost kissed him.

"Where is he? Where could he be at a time like this?" Weiss growled as she looked around the room.

"To think that I wasted a few minutes just to see that goofball".

* * *

Meeting

"Ah… Jaune Arc. I have something I wanted to discuss with you, which is why I called you here." Ozpin said, staring at Jaune with an interested look on his face. He sipped some coffee from his mug and continued to explain the reason for his meeting.

"I understand that you were one of the people on the battlefield days ago along with Ms. Nikos and I wanted to ask you, what exactly happened?" Ozpin asked, as he continued drinking his coffee.

"I don't want to talk about it." Jaune said, with a depressed look.

"I want to know what happened because I was told by a witness that a blonde knight with a woman they claimed to be Ms. Nikos were cornered by a large number of White Fang Soldiers in the forest."

Ozpin said with both eyes glued onto Jaune's face.

 _Witness? No that's impossible. There wasn't anybody else there other than me and Pyrrha in that god awful woods. Was he there? No that can't be right, me or even Pyrrha would have felt his presence. Not only that, but he would surely helped…would he?_ Jaune thought to himself.

"Yea… me and Pyrrha were at the forest during the attack. She…sacrificed herself to save me." Jaune trying his best not to breakdown and cry again.

"I am sorry for your loss Jaune. Was there anything else that happened after that?" Ozpin asked curiously.

"Anything else? You mean besides my close friend that was laying there emotionless rotting on the ground because of those sick and disgusting Faunus?!" Jaune said, trying his best not to yell.

"I didn't mean it like that Jaune. The witness said that they saw the blonde knight change into some sort of dark armored knight."

 _Dark armored knight? Is he serious? How can I turn to an armored knight? I don't even remember anything after Pyrrha's death. I had collapsed because of the exhaustion when I tried to help Pyrrha. He must be joking with me, surely I would remember something like that._ Jaune thought to himself, trying to figure out what exactly Professor Ozpin is trying to get at.

"Now isn't the time for jokes professor Ozpin. I want to find the person responsible for the tragedy and make them pay." Jaune said as he slammed his hands on the desk and looked at the professor's face with eyes filled with rage.

"Calm down Jaune. You are going to break my desk."

Jaune looked down at the desk and noticed that his hands were breaking the legs from both corners of the desk.

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't know."

 _How did I do that? Is that just an adrenaline rush?_

"I understand your frustration Jaune and I know how much you want to catch the person responsible for the incident, but you need to tell me what you remember after Pyrrha's death."

"I already told you what I remember… I don't remember anything. I don't remember this black knight and I don't remember what he did." Jaune said as he was already getting tired of listening to the professor.

"Then at least take a look at this." Professor Ozpin slid a video recording to Jaune that captured the incident that occurred in the forest.

 _What…what is this? That can't be me, I don't remember what happened after I lost conscious. I could have sworn that I collapsed. Is that really me?_ Jaune thought to himself as he watched the clip of him brutally killing the Faunus.

"I… I don't believe it. I couldn't have killed those Faunus, THAT CAN'T BE ME!" Jaune began to yell. He couldn't believe the fact that he butchered and dismembered the Faunus that stood before him. Even he can't see himself doing such an act.

"Calm down Jaune! You need to calm down!" Professor Ozpin said as he attempted to calm the blonde knight.

Jaune began to see the images of death and blood in his head. He started to remember what happened that night. He saw the images of Pyrrha as she jumped in front of Jaune to protect him from a spear that was thrown straight at him. He was seeing the images of him slaying the White Fang soldier one by one. Their faces gave a horrific expression as they drew their last breath before being butchered by the black knight.

Jaune's head began to hurt as he collapsed to the ground. The voices of his victims yelling for forgiveness before they were slaughtered began ringing in his head.

"STOP! MAKE THE VOICES STOP!" Jaune yelled, hoping that his yelling would make the screams go away.

"GLYNDA! BRING ME THE MEDICS TO MY OFFICE HURRY!" Ozpin yelled after dialing Glynda from his phone.

"I'm sorry Jaune." Ozpin said as he knocked the boy unconscious to ease him from his pain.

* * *

Back in the infirmary

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY!" Jaune screamed, looking at Pyrrha who stood in front of him. She had a spear lodged through her abdomen, nearly penetrating Jaune' body.

"Why did you let me die? Why Jaune?" Pyrrha asked. Blood was spilling out of her mouth, her emerald eyes were wide, as if she saw something terrifying.

"YOU DID THIS TO ME!"

"No I… I WANTED TO SA…" Pyrrha grabbed Jaune's neck and began choking him.

"Forgi… ***gasp*** ve… me…" Jaune said, desperately trying to get air.

 ***Gasp*** Jaune woke up trying to get air into his lungs.

"JAUNE!" Yang yelled, shaking the boy who was on the bed.

"What… what's going on?"

"You were having a nightmare." Ruby asked the startled blonde who was trying to grasp what was going on.

"…Yea."

"Don't you worry, it's over now" Ruby told him, trying to comfort him.

The whole group began to explain to him what had happened. Jaune knew that something was wrong with him, but wouldn't tell any of them of what was wrong and what he was discussing with Professor Ozpin.

"Well I feel better now. I think I should head back to the room and get dressed, I need to get back on track and attend classes again." Jaune told the group who was worried about him.

"Are you sure? Maybe you shouldn't rush yourself. You just woke up and who knows if you have fully recovered." Ren said.

"Yea I'm sure, and besides, I don't want to get overflowed with school work the longer I wait. It would be best if I get back as quickly as possible" Jaune said with a small smile on his face. He walked out of the room and left to his dorm.

"He seems…fine, a little too fine." Blake said as the group watched the boy walk away.

"I find that a little too weird. No one can just wipe off what had happened just like that and pretend like that never happened." Yang said, squinting her eyes at Jaune.

"Maybe he is trying to hide what he really feels just to avoid having a depressing conversation." Weiss added.

"Well, we'll continue talking about it in a different time, we have class with goodwitch and we will really see if Jaune is fine." Yang said, as the group headed to class.

* * *

Sparring match

"Alright class. We will be having sparring matches today and it will consist of 2 teams comprised of 2 students each. I understand that some, if not all of you are tired, but you can never know what might happen next, and you should always be ready." As Ms. Goodwitch was about to begin the randomizer, Jaune walked in.

"Ah… Mr. Arc, so nice of you to join us. We were about to select the teams, but since you are here, I will add you to the list." Ms. Goodwitch proceeded to add him to the randomizer.

"Uh… WAIT! I don't really feel it up to it today!" Jaune said, scratching the back of his head.

"OH COME JAUNE! YOU LOOK READY TO ME!" Yang yelled at the boy who was somewhat far away.

"Ugh… fine… okay." Jaune headed towards his group of friends to take a seat.

"Very well, our first matchup will be… Ruby Rose and Nora Valkyrie vs Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee."

"Aw man." Ruby said quietly. She was hoping to get teamed up with Jaune.

"Don't be sad Ruby, WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS!" Nora said excitedly.

"She seems finally better." Yang said as she looked at Nora walk towards the arena alongside Ruby.

"I had to cheer her up every day and explain to her that everything was going to be ok." Ren told Yang.

The 2 teams reached the field and began readying there weapons.

"Wait a minute…" Jaune said as he began to search his back.

"What's the matter?" Asked Ren

"I forgot about my sword and shield."

"Well where did you leave it?" Yang asked with a little attitude, thinking that he was just making an excuse to not spar today.

"Back at the…" Jaune stopped. His face turned pale as he remembered where he had left it.

"Jaune are you alright? You look pale." Ren asked.

"I…I'm fine."

"So where did you leave it? Yang began to repeatedly ask.

"Where huh? Hello?"

"…I don't remember." Jaune said, with an angry tone.

"What's with the attitude?" Yang asked as she stood up from her seat and got close to Jaune.

"What attitude?" Jaune asked, starting to get annoyed.

"THAT ATTITUDE!" Yang grabbed the boy by his sweater.

"Let…me…go."

"HEY YOU TWO!" Professor Goodwitch yelled.

"If you want to spar that badly then I shall let you go first. This one will not be a double's match and instead will be a one on one match."

"What!" Jaune said loudly, surprised by the announcement.

"I'm fine with that." Yang said, grinning at the blonde annoyed knight.

"What about us?" Blake asked.

"You will be sparring after Mr. Arc's match."

 _Jaune…_ Ruby thought, as she began to worry about the fragile knight.

"Fine, whatever, but I need you to make it a hand to hand combat only match. I forgot to bring my weapon" Jaune told the professor.

"Sorry but that's your fault. The match will remain the same." Professor Goodwitch said.

"Damn you." Jaune quietly said while walking towards the field.

Yang began to remove her gauntlets to be in an equal field with Jaune.

"You will not disarm yourself Ms. Xiao Long."

"But…" Yang said, trying to reason with the professor.

"No buts!" Professor growled.

The two students took their stands. The students that were watching were asking each other why the professor was acting the way she was. Some were saying that she wasn't this strict and this was really out of her character.

"Let the sparring match… begin!"

Jaune quickly got into his hand to hand combat stand. Before the tragedy, he had been practicing heavily with Pyrrha on how to fight without using his weapons. Luckily, this was the perfect time to use it. Yang immediately shot at the boy several times to which Jaune was able to dodge them successfully, but tripped in the last evasion. Jaune knew that he wouldn't be able to block Yang's fury attacks because of her gauntlets that can easily injure him even though his aura can somewhat reduce the damage taken. Yang took notice and ran towards the knight to take advantage and performed a heavy jump attack. Jaune rolled to the side and avoided the heavy hit that shattered the cement floor. Jaune grabbed Yang's arm and attempted to go for an arm bar, but Yang anticipated this and used her other arm to shoot at Jaune who had his back to the floor. Jaune didn't have time to dodge and had to take the hits head on. Jaune was pushed back from the shots and used the momentum to get back on his feet. As he looked back at the feisty girl, Yang was already running towards him, unleashing a devastating cross punch. Jaune without hesitation ducked and went for a strong hook to Yang's stomach. To his fortune, this knocked the air out of Yang and she quickly collapsed to both knees, trying to get oxygen back at her lungs. Jaune unleashed a powerful kick to Yang's face that sent the girl flying to the other side.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled. Shocked to see what happened to her big sister.

Jaune looked at Ruby's face that held a worried look.

Without warning he was immediately sent flying by a devastating right hook by Yang whose semblance activated after the devastating kick. The attack knocked the White Knight to the other side of the arena, shattering the wall. And just like that, the match was over. Jaune was completely unconscious and was quickly sent back to the infirmary.

 **Here is another chapter everyone. This took a little longer than expected because college classes started and I only had a few hours to type out the chapter. No worries though, I shall continue with this and I hope you still stick around whether the chapters start getting boring or not. I will see you guys next time. Oh by the way, I am still accepting possible ships for my boy Jaune. I have a few requests already, and if you have an idea, feel free to pm me or something that will get me to read your requests. Laters!**


	4. Chapter 4 - The Choice

**Chapter 4 - The Choice**

"Are you awake yet Jaunney boy?" Yang asked, as the blonde slowly awoke from his slumber.

"Aw man…my face hurts. What happened?"

"Well I went a little overboard and knocked you unconscious. The match was getting fun and I didn't hold anything back on the last attack."

"Yea… I can still feel it. By the way, where's everyone at?" Jaune asked Yang, as he looked around the room.

"They all went to class, but I decided to stay for the day. It's the least I can do for going overboard."

"You didn't have to. Things like that tend to happen in a fight whether it is a sparring match or not. Hey! Isn't this the same room that I have been staying for days?"

"Yea it is. If you continue coming back here, they might decide to make this your official dorm room." Yang said as she giggled at her comment.

"Ha, real funny." Jaune got up from his bed and went to wash his face on the sink.

Yang looked at the blonde from her seat and began to ponder what made Jaune upset back in the arena. Jaune shut the sink off and looked at the mirror in front of him.

 _I need to get stronger. If I can't beat Yang, how good will I fair against the person responsible for the attack? Not only that, but I am worried about Professor Ozpin's video recording. Could that really be me? Well, whatever it is, it responded to my rage and anger of the incident. If I can somehow control that power, I will be able to get my revenge and take out the person or persons responsible for this._ Jaune thought.

"Hey, Jaune" Yang asked, as she stood up from her seat and walked towards Jaune.

"Yea?"

"I want to ask you why you got so upset before the sparring match?"

"I wasn't upset. Did I seem upset?"

"Yeah you did. When I asked you where your weapon was."

"Oh… it's nothing. I guess I got a little annoyed because you kept asking. Jaune said, scratching the back of head.

Yang walked closer to the White Knight and scowled at him.

"That's not true. You always scratch the back of your head when you lie to someone." Yang said getting closer to Jaune.

"That's not true at all! You can't even prove that." Jaune said, as he stopped himself halfway from scratching his head again.

"THERE YOU SEE!" Yang yelled.

"OKAY FINE! I did lie but I don't feel like telling you."

Yang grabbed the boy by the shoulders and pulled him closer to her.

"Jaune… we are friends right? Why can't you tell me?" Yang said. Their faces almost a feet away from each other.

Jaune's face slowly turned red and he began to sweat.

"OKAY! Okay… I'll tell you if you let me go." Jaune tried his best to regain his composure.

Yang grinned at what he said and didn't let go at all. Instead, she pulled him a bit closer.

"Does this make you uncomfortable?" Yang asked, grinning.

"No… uh… not at all!"

"How about you tell me why you were lying, then I will let you go."

"I… I didn't want to tell you or anyone because… I had left it at a forest somewhat far from here.

"Was that it?" Yang asked as she looked closely to see if Jaune would do any gesture that would make it seem he was about to scratch his head again.

"It seems you are telling the truth Jaunney boy. Now… was that so hard?"

"Umm…no." Jaune said, trying to scratch the back of his head but was still being held by Yang.

Yang let the Knight go and proceeded to exit the room.

"Oh, by the way, you do see me as a friend right?"

Jaune took a deep breath simply turned her back to her.

Yang giggled and left to her room. Now Jaune was alone in the room trying to decide what to do about Crocea Mors.

 _Well there is no point in staying here, I need to go get my weapons back, but I would need to ask someone for permission to leave the school. I better ask Professor Ozpin since he already knows about me being in the forest. I also have a few questions about me being the Black Knight._

* * *

Ozpins Office

"Ah… Mr. Arc. I was wondering when you will come back."

"Sorry to keep you waiting. It's hard trying to grasp what I am and keeping it a secret to the others."

"It's best to keep it that way… for now. Now, I know you must be wondering what that black aura is and what it did to you. Well, have a seat because it's going to take a while to explain."

Jaune proceeded to take his seat and listened carefully to what Professor Ozpin was about to say about what this black aura and black knight is.

"This black aura is very, very rare. This black aura has typically makes the host more prone to negative emotions."

"Negative emotions?" Jaune asked, starting to get frightened.

"Yes negative emotions. You will become more prone to depression, rage, jealousy, irritation, and you will become more insecure. Not only this, but you will likely be more prone to the need of revenge. Aside from all the negative things, this aura also enhances your strength, speed, and reflexes."

"How do you know all this!?" Jaune asked as he got up from his seat.

"This black aura or darkness is what I like to call it, has been around in ancient times. I have read and done much research on it and I didn't believe it at first. However, after finding out the previous host, this made me realize that this power was possible to obtain. It picks its host randomly, however there are a few conditions that have to be met in order for the person to receive this power.

"A few conditions?" Jaune asked.

"Yes. Only a person who is pure hearted can receive this power, for example you and your family."

"My family!?" Jaune shocked at the information was shaken.

"Yes your family. The Arcs are known to be the most pure hearted families in Remnant. Which is why your family are the most likely to receive this power. Your great, great grandfather in fact, had this power."

"My great, great grandfather!?"

"Yes. There have been documents and information about him having a black aura that manifested into a full set of knight armor. Only a few people know about this darkness and it is still kept secret. Reason for this is because there would be many that would seek the host and try to get for themselves and who knows what they would do with this powerful gift or what I would like to call a curse."

"… My grandfather, what happened to him when he received this… curse?" Jaune asked.

"Your grandfather used this power to protect the people of remnant from dangerous Grimm as well as corrupted individuals who posed a threat to peace, at the cost of his life."

"The cost of his life?"

"According to the information that I managed to gather, he used his last ounce of strength to wipe out thousands of grim that had invaded a city long ago. It seems that this black aura can wipe out the Grimm in an instant from miles away, at the cost of the host's life."

Jaune remained quiet. Shocked at the information he was provided, he had a hard time believing all of this. To think that his family is prone to this curse and that one member of his family had already fallen victim to it.

"Your grandfather had lost his family from a Grimm attack. And from that attack, his spirit was broken, thus allowing him to receive this power. That is the other condition which I manage to find out. In your case, Pyrrha was killed in front of your eyes and your spirit was broken as well."

"What… what should I do…" Jaune asked now trembling with fear.

"What you should do is do what your grandfather did all those years. Protect the world from a great catastrophe that might occur. Control this power like your grandfather and not let it overtake you like the previous hosts."

"Like the previous hosts?" Jaune said, as his eyes widened at that statement.

"This black aura can only choose 2 hosts at a time in this world. The last host was completely swallowed by the darkness and had nearly destroyed a whole nation. I believe that the big catastrophes that occurred in the history of remnant were because of this Darkness. If it weren't for the four maidens, all would have been lost."

"The four maidens?"

"The four maidens have a power that might be equal to that of someone who wields the darkness. The four maidens have a power that was given to by a wizard long ago. I believe that the Darkness and the Wizard could possibly be related somehow, but with the information we have gathered, we can't be certain."  
"We?"

"I and four other individuals have been looking into all these lore about the 4 maidens and the darkness. Since you were one of the chosen by the Dark, it is safe to tell you who the other 3 are. The other three are Glynda, Qrow Branwen, and James Ironwood. They should be coming here momentarily."

"You mean professor Goodwitch!?" Jaune asked, shocked at the fact that his own teacher knew about this.

"Yes. I was the one who instructed her to put you in a match when you arrived to class. Although it seemed you managed to put yourself first in the fight."

"Don't remind me." Jaune said, rolling his eyes.

The elevator opened and there stood the 3 people who knew about the information.

"So where is the unlucky fool?" Qrow asked, as he walked out of the elevator drunk.

"You're looking at him." Ozpin said.

"This scrawny blonde? You can't be serious. I thought it would be some buff looking badass." Qrow said, as he looked at the scrawny blonde.

"HEY! I can be… badass…" Jaune said looking down in shame.

"To think that an Arc would once again be gifted with this power." Ironwood said, as he observed Jaune.

"For the last time James, this gift is nothing more than a burden." Professor Goodwitch said to the man.

"This burden, is something to our benefit. We can use this to our advantage against the criminals who attacked us and if we can use this boy to aid us, we can stop the people responsible." Ironwood said.

"Or this kid can go insane and kill us all." Qrow added, sipping his drink.

"I won't do that! I… I want to be able to control this power so that I can get back to the person who killed my teammate." Jaune said, forming a fist in his right hand.

"Revenge huh. This should really play out smoothly now." Qrow said as he continued drinking.

"Listen Mr. Arc, I understand you want to get the vagabonds responsible for this incident, but you will not be the one pursuing the ones who are behind this. You will help us against their underlings, but the masterminds behind it, they will be answering to us." Ironwood told the boy who was sitting in front of him.

Jaune got up from his seat and walked to the window that held a beautiful view of the city.

"Those monsters took hundreds of lives during the attack and one of the lives was Pyrrha Nikos, a teammate and someone very close to me. I had to watch her as she slowly died on my arms. Do you know what it's like to see your world burn in front of your eyes? She was the one who helped me become a better fighter, she was the one who accepted me even though she knew I should have not been here, she was the one who loved me for who I was. A weak and defenseless student. Because of her death, this power had arisen from me and now I have to deal with the consequences that comes from it."

Jaune turned around and looked at the three who stood and looked at their eyes.

"DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT I DON'T DESERVE TO GET MY REVENGE!?" Jaune yelled at the 2 who stood there shocked. Jaune's eyes turned yellow and his black aura began to slowly expel.

"JAUNE!" Professor Ozpine yelled.

"WHAT!?"

Jaune looked at himself, noticing the black aura that was resonating.

"I… I'm sorry." Jaune said as he quietly went back to his seat.

"It seems the kid's aura responds to his anger" Ironwood said.

"Oh really? I thought it responded to his happiness." Qrow said, glaring at Ironwood.

"Very well Jaune, you will be helping us find the people responsible for this and by my orders, you will be working under Qrow." Ozpin said, as he looked at the drunk man.

"ME?! Why do I have to babysit this kid? I have important things to do other than watch this kid get in my way." Qrow said as he glared at Ozpin.

"You will be training Jaune to become a better huntsman as well as help him control the darkness. He will be also help you investigate anything that can lead to the people behind this and their whereabouts. Jaune is also allowed to take any cases he is personally interested in." Ozpin said scowling at the grey haired man.

"I refuse." Ironwood stated.

"I think it would be best if he comes along with me. I have all the proper training equipment along with the latest technology that can help him become a better fighter. He will be able to increase his strength and fighting prowess at a faster rate than training with Qrow here. I can also prevent him from going completely insane if the Dark does consume him." Ironwood stated.

"Why don't you let the boy decide where to go. He can stay here, he can go with Qrow, or he can go with James to Atlas." Glynda said to Ozpin who was sipping his coffee.

"Very well. Jaune, what will you do? Stay here at school, go with Qrow, or with Ironwood?" Everyone stared at Jaune with ears wide open.

"Well… I think… it would be best… if I…"

 **Hey everyone! Here is another chapter that I manage to complete today. I hope you enjoy the chapter and I also hope you had a wonderful valentine's day. By the way, you are probably wondering what will Jaune choose? I want allow the readers to have a chance to choose on who to go with. I can't say for sure that your choice will be chosen, but the chances of it happening as of now is really high. Be sure to PM me or do something that will tell me who you choose and it might be done. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to follow if you are still interested in the story or unfollow if you no longer care for it. Thanks either way!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Decision

**Chapter 5 - Decision**

"It would be best… if I choose Qrow. If what you say is true, then we might be able to get information about the people who started the attack much quicker." Jaune stated.

"I see. Very well, you will be helping Qrow gather information and assist in raids. However, you will first need to be trained so that you can handle yourself in serious situations. Qrow, I am counting on you on training the boy to become a proper Huntsman."

"Whatever. I will help the boy get stronger. I do have a few conditions if he intends on being my apprentice."

"What will that be?" Jaune asked the drunk dusty Qrow.

"Until you can handle yourself on the battlefield, you will need to follow my instructions and not question what I ask you to do. The cases that we will be investigating will be risky and can lead to one of us getting possibly killed. In addition to that, some of these cases will need an extra hand."

"What do you mean by extra hand?" Jaune asked raising an eyebrow.

"You will sometimes have a partner to help you during a case. What kind of partner? Well, if I tell you, it will ruin the surprise now wouldn't it?" Qrow said, drinking his flask.

"Can I at least choose who I can take?"

"If you stay in my good side, then maybe I will consider your request. Until then, I will be assigning your teammate."

"Wait a minute… why would I need a teammate if I have you?"

"About that… I hate working in 2 so I will be working solo most of the time, but that's until I can be certain that you can handle yourself."

"Fine. If it means getting faster results to finding the mastermind then I agree."

"Very well, from this day forward you and Qrow will be working together." Ozpin said, as he stood up ready to dismiss the group.

"Ozpin you can't be serious. I think the right choice is for Jaune to come to Atlas with me." Ironwood stated.

"I'm sorry James, but Jaune has already made up his mind. The least I can do is allow you to determine who Jaune can work with during some cases which he will be tasked alone."

"Hmmm… fine, seems reasonable. I have someone in mind that can benefit the investigations." Ironwood stated.

"Very well, you are all dismissed." Ozpin said as he took a drink of his coffee.

"Oh Professor Ozpin, I forgot to ask you something." Jaune said, as he walked out of the elevator.

"What is it Mr. Arc?"

"Can I have permission to leave the school? I left my stuff back at the forest and I really need it back. There is also other stuff there that I need to get."

"Yes… of course. However, you need to take your team, as well as team RWBY with you."

"But why!" Jaune asked, getting upset.

"You aren't the only one who lost a friend now are you? The others should know what exactly happened to Pyrrha and where it happened."

"…yea, I guess you're right." Jaune then walked into the elevator and returned back to his dorm.

* * *

Departure

"Hey Jaune where you been? Nora and I were looking everywhere for you." Ren asked.

"I was with Professor Ozpin. I wanted to ask him something."

"What was it?"

"It's better to tell everyone at the same time. Can you get the others and tell them to meet me in front of the school? We are going somewhere." Jaune said. His eyes slowly descended to sadness.

"Yea… okay." Ren then proceeded to get the others and meet him in front of the school.

"Why did Jaunney boy want all of us to gather in front of the school?" Yang asked.

"He said we will be taking a trip somewhere, but he seemed a little depressed when he said that." Ren said as they the group finally reached the front of the school.

"Hey Jaune!" Ruby said as she ran to hug the knight.

"Hey there Ruby, it seems everyone is finally here. You're all probably wondering why I called all of you here. We will be going to a forest a little far from here. There is something I want to talk to you all about, but I want to make sure beforehand that you will not tell anybody."

"Well you can trust me Jaune. You know I will always be there for you." Ruby said, smiling at the knight.

"Well I am your teammate and I would never reveal a secret, especially from a friend. I can also vouch for Nora." Ren said.

"Well, you already know my secret and you haven't told anyone yet, so of course I can keep your secret." Blake said.

"Oh come on Jaunney boy, you know me. I can keep a secret." Yang said, grinning at Jaune.

"I would never reveal any classified information to any other people. You can definitely trust me Jaune." Weiss said, placing her hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Thanks guys, but it would be best to tell you when we reach the destination." Jaune said as he began walking.

Everyone looked at each other confused and simply followed him. They walk through the city that was nearly in rubble. Thanks to Professor Goodwitch and other good Samaritans, the buildings were partially rebuilt. The once bloody streets were now somewhat clean, although evidence of the tragedy still remained. The group finally reached the forest where the black knight was born and there still lay multiple weapons from the blood bath.

"We're here." Jaune said. The others stood still and looked at the sight of the rotting bodies that were lying around Milo and Akuo.

"J…Jaune. What is this?" Weiss asked as she covered her mouth in hopes that it would prevent her from puking.

"We aren't here for the bodies, we're here for this." Jaune said, stepping over the bodies to get to the weapons he came to get.

"That's Pyrrha's weapon and shield." Ren said.

"This is where it happened… this is where she died… in my arms." Jaune said getting onto his knee to pick up his and Pyrrha's stuff.

"Jaune… did Pyrrha really kill all these soldiers of the White Fang?" Blake asked as she walked around the area in shock.

"Just a few…" Jaune said. He picked the weapons up and began walking towards the remaining group members who were still frozen at the sight.

"Then the person who saved you k-killed the others then?" Yang asked. Her body was trembling, no words can describe the feeling she felt.

"More or less yea…"

"Then who was it?"

"I… I don't know. I collapsed before I saw him." Jaune said, slowly reaching his head but stopped a quarter from the way.

"You're lying." Yang said. The trembling sensation was gone and now she was scowling at the knight.

"He is." A voice came out of the woods.

"Who's there!" Ruby yelled. The group quickly took there combat positions.

"Relax. That isn't a great way to say hi to your uncle after the battle now is it?" Qrow jumped off the tree and landed in front of the group.

"UNCLE QROW!" Ruby yelled, running to him.

"Uncle Qrow?" Jaune asked himself silently.

"Oh that's right, I never told you Jaune that I am Ruby and Yang's Uncle huh."

"Yea… you kinda left that small important detail out…"

 _All the more reason to not let any of them die._

"Wait… you met Qrow?" Yang asked.

"Yea it was back to school."

"Well it seems you did quite a number here kid. I didn't expect you to do this much damage at all." Qrow said, observing the bodies.

"Wait… you did this?" Blake asked. Shocked at the statement.

"QROW!" Jaune yelled at the drunk man.

"What? Oh sorry. This drink really does a number on you, ya know?" Qrow said, taking another drink out of the flask.

"Jaune, how did you manage to do this? You aren't exactly the type of person who knows how to protect themselves from an attack." Weiss told the boy.

"Well it seems you were wrong. Apparently I can protect myself, so be sure to add that to your notes." Jaune said, agitated at what Weiss said.

"Well in any case, I need you to come with me Jaune. There is something that came up and I need you to come along." Qrow said.

"Right now?"

"Right now."

"Wait! What's going on? Where exactly are you going to take him Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked blocking the blonde knight.

"It's something that doesn't concern you Ruby. You should go back to school with your friends and I will explain later when me and Jaune are done."

"No! You will explain to us what is going on and only then will I move."

"Ruby is right, we're his friends and teammates. We deserve to know what is going on." Ren said, joining Ruby to her side. The rest of the team also joined her to know what they were trying to keep secret.

"Tell you what, if all 7 of you can beat me and Jaune, we will tell you everything you want to know." Qrow said, pulling out his Greatsword.

"I'm sure Jaune wants to tell us so he will obviously be on our side. Right Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"… I'm sorry Ruby, but I changed my mind. None of you can never understand the truth." Jaune said, as he slowly walked to Qrow.

 _If you ever found out, I know for a fact that you will look at me in a different way._

Jaune stared at the fragile rose that stood before him.

 _Even now that I told you what happened here, the look at your eyes after what you've seen. I can already tell… you are having second thoughts of me… Aren't you Ruby?_

"Don't worry Jaune. What's done in the dark will be brought to the light. We will win and the truth will set you free." Ruby said, pulling out Crescent Rose and staring back at him.

Jaune smiled at her and pulled out Crocea Mors.

"Then I will hope you beat us… Ruby."

 _I guess I was wrong about you Ruby. Thank you for still being there for me, even if I try to push you away._

"Let's go!" Ruby yelled, as both teams attacked.

Ruby, Yang, Blake and Weiss went for Qrow and circled around him. Ren and Nora went straight for Jaune who had his guard ready. Ruby quickly ran towards her Uncle and swung her scythe hoping for Qrow to block her attack. Qrow didn't take the bait and simply took a step back which caused Ruby's attack to miss by mere inches. Yang, Blake, and Weiss circled the old man and began hitting him with a barrage of attacks. This however, was child's play for Qrow. He simply smiled and managed to avoid most of the attacks and quickly pulled out his Greatsword and unleashed a wide ranged attack, hitting its attended targets. Weiss, Ruby, and Yang took the attack, but Blake used her semblance and her shadow took the attack for her.

"Oooh nice semblance you got there kid." Qrow said.

Blake quickly unsheathed Gambol Shroud and used the katana to hit Qrow. He however continued dodging as if it were a dance.

"I would put that away if I were you…"

As the barrage of attack continued, Yang quickly took several shots from her distance to catch the man off guard.

"OH SHI!" Qrow yelled as he kicked Blake away in order for him to block the incoming attack with his Greatsword. Although he managed to block the blast, he was pushed back to a tree.

"Nice try kid but you will need to do a better job than tha…" Qrow was cut off by Ruby who used her semblance to close the gap between them. Ruby used Crescent Rose and went for a diagonal attack that made its mark. Qrow was knocked down but quickly rolled to the right.

"Alright enough games… it's time to get serious." Qrow said as he jumped towards Ruby and swung his Greatsword. Meanwhile, Jaune was at the defensive blocking both Nora's and Ren's combine attacks.

 _If I don't come up with something quick!_ Jaune thought.

He quickly saw an opening for him from Nora and took advantage of it.

 _That's it!_ Jaune thought.

He quickly sheathed his sword and ran towards the girl. He slid underneath and Nora unleashed a powerful attack with her hammer that barely missed its mark. Rocks came flying out of the ground due to the power behind the attack and Jaune's true attended target was the mastermind who was none other than Ren. He got back to his feet and quickly unsheathed his sword and performed a jump attack on Ren. Ren saw the attack coming and used Stormflower to shoot at the incoming knight. Jaune used his kite shield to block the incoming attacks allowing him to get up close with Ren. Jaune swung his sword but Ren was able to use his Stormflower to block the attack.

"Nora!" Ren yelled

Nora ran towards the 2 and used her large hammer to strike down Jaune from behind.

Jaune quickly did a 180 sweep attack to knock down Ren and block the incoming attack from Nora. Nora's hammer came crashing down towards Jaune's kite shield creating a massive explosion.

"What!" Nora said shocked at the knight who was still standing from the attack.

Jaune quickly pushed her weapon aside and went for a side kick to the chest that sent Nora flying to a nearby tree.

 _What the!_ Jaune thought.

Ren performed a leg sweep that made Jaune land on his back and aimed his guns at Jaune.

"Looks like we win" Ren said smiling.

"Look again." Jaune said .

Ren looked underneath him and there was Jaune's sword aimed straight to Ren's stomach.

"I guess it's a tie."

Back with Qrow's battle, he witnessed what was going on even though he was dodging the girls combined attacks. He took a giant step back and put his hands up.

"Okay… I give"

"WHAT!?" Yang said, ready to unleash her semblance.

"We were just getting to the best part!"

"We're going to be late if we keep this up so we might as well tell you now." Qrow said, taking a big swizz of his flask.

"So what was the point of having a match?" Jaune asked.

"The point was for me to see how you fought. I can see why your teammates aren't intimidated by you."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelled.

"It's true though…" Qrow said.

 _He's right though. I can barely keep up with Nora and Ren and if I'm going to find the person who is responsible for Pyrrha's death, I need to get stronger. DAMMIT!_ Jaune thought, clenching his fists.

"Tell them what they want to hear so that we can get going." Jaune said with an angry tone.

"Oh, did I hurt your feelings? Sorry." Qrow said sarcastically.

Qrow began telling them what they wanted to hear. He told him about what happened in the forest, what Jaune has kept secret, the stories about the Dark, and what can happen to him if he doesn't control it. He told the group that Jaune wants to avenge Pyrrha and by doing this he will be able to fulfill that duty.

"Jaune you can't simply carry all this on your shoulders. She was our teammate too and we should be going for the people responsible for it together." Ren said, placing his hand on his shoulder.

"I can't allow that. I don't want to witness another person I care about end up like Pyrrha. What's worse is that I can go insane and end up killing the people I swore to protect. If that happens I wouldn't be able to forgive myself."

"I don't care what you say, I am not letting you carry this burden all by yourself." Ruby said walking towards the knight.

"You aren't the only person who was hurt after Pyrrha's death. If something were to happen to you too, there's no telling what we would do. You were my first friend I had in beacon and you were there to pick me up. If I were to lose you I… I don't know what I would do. We're going after these people together, whether you like it or not." Ruby said, frowning at Jaune.

"She's right. You can't take everything on your own. We are here to become huntsman and huntresses. This will be the first step to becoming one. We all want the same thing, peace in the world right?" Weiss asked.

"Yea… you're right. However, the decision isn't up to me, it's up to Qrow.

Everyone looked at Qrow, he was standing there drinking.

"What? You guys can do whatever you want as long as you stay out of my way. However, you two! Qrow pointing at Yang and Ruby.

"Who? Us? Yang asked

"Yes you two! I'm watching your every move so I would be careful where you tread." Qrow said eyeballing the two.

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean. Anyways, we should get going Jaune."

"Ok. All of you should get back to beacon. We can talk about what we are going to do next when I come back." Jaune said.

"Okay. Be careful Jaune." Ruby said running to hug Jaune.

"Hey! What did I say!?" Qrow said, as he managed to pull Ruby from her hoody and drag her back to her team.

"I'll see you all soon." Jaune replied.

He began walking off with Qrow into the woods from the opposite direction of the school.

"BE CAREFUL FEARLESS LEADER!" Nora yelled, as they began walking back to school.

"What should we do with Pyrrha's stuff?" asked Yang.

"I think it would be best to send it back to her family." Ren stated.

The sun had finally set and both teams were now at Beacon, enjoying their last warm meal for the day.

* * *

Warm welcome

Qrow and Jaune traveled further away from the school and ended up in a small town outside from Vale. Their destination was located in a small town called "Victorville" just outside of Vale. Qrow had talked to Jaune about how to go about gathering information to find certain criminals.

"Listen, in order to find what you are looking for you will need to find the worst part of a city. Whatever crime lord you are looking for, it is best to persuade scums with money or if that doesn't work then usually intimidation and threats should get them to talk."

"Yeah… right. Can we go get something to eat first? I'm starving over here." Jaune said, placing his hand on his crying stomach.

"Didn't you eat before you left from school?"

"I haven't even eaten breakfast yet! I was stuck in the infirmary and talking to you and Ozpin all day!"

"Fine fine fine. There is a pretty good place that I heard about on a newspaper not too far from here. We'll relax for a bit there and head towards a club."

"Why a club?"

"The club we will be heading is crawling with scumbags and criminals. They probably have information that we are looking for."

The two finally reached the restaurant and took their seats. The restaurant was a heartwarming place for Jaune. Inside were families having meals together, the structure was made out of logs, as if it were a big cabin, and the waiters were kind. Both began talking to one another, trying to get to know each other's background. Who they were, what made them want to become a huntsman, and talked about their families.

"You should introduce me to one of your sisters one day. I'm sure we will be great friends once we get to know each other." Qrow said, taking a sip out of his flask.

"I'm sure you would like that wouldn't you. My sisters aren't into guys who drink a lot of alcohol you know."

"Not yet she isn't, but once she knows m- ***hiccup*** e, I'm sure she would love to have me around."

"Yea, I bet. By the way, what made you want to become a huntsman? You don't exactly fit the picture when I think of a Huntsman."

"Well, the reason why I became a Huntsman ***Hiccup*** is the same reason why you want to become a Huntsman. I've always wanted to do something about this ***hiccup*** evil that resides in Remnant. I wanted to protect everyone from the creatures of Grimm, that's what the school ever taught us, to fear the Grimm. However, it seems I was fool into believing that was the only evil thing that resides on Remnant. What is truly evil are humans and Faunus. When you watch the news, what do you see? You hardly hear about Grimm attacks, it's mostly crimes in the city, murders, vandalism, and corruption." Qrow looked outside the window that was beside him.

"No matter how much work I put in, it remains the same. However, even that doesn't stop me from doing what I enjoy doing. Saving a life is what drives me to continue this line of work. Sure there might be some incidents where I couldn't save the person, but I learned to deal with that because not everything will go the way you want it to be."

 _That sounds similar to what Ruby told me back in the infirmary._ Jaune thought.

"I think I have rambled enough. I'm starting to sound like an old man." Qrow proceeded to take another sip of his flask.

"Qrow… have you ever lost someone close to you?" Jaune asked, staring at his half eaten meal.

"I've lost a few. I've lost friends, classmates, and my sister, although my sister didn't die. That is something I don't feel like talking about at the moment. We should get going, it's better to start as soon as possible."

"Yea… sure."

The two paid their bills and left the warm restaurant and headed towards the club that held the information they seek.

 **Hey everyone! Here is another chapter for you to enjoy. I've counted all the votes through the reviews and through the PM's and Qrow won by 2 votes! Sorry for the people who voted Ironwood and Beacon. Also, I would have uploaded this sooner, but I had a few things to take care of before hand. I was also watching the last chapter of RWBY and it got me a little annoyed. Obviously I won't not spoil it but if you didn't know already, my favorite character is Jaune and some things that happened in the final chapter made me a little upset. Anyways I hope you enjoy the newest chapter and if you enjoy it feel free to leave a favorite or follow and if you no longer have interest in it, then thank you for taking the time to read it. Have a wonderful day.**


	6. Chapter 6 - First Comes, First Serves

**Chapter 6 – First Comes, First Serves**

Qrow and Jaune finally reached the club in the poorest part of the city and observed the surroundings before making a move.

"Alright kid, you're gonna stay out here and stay low. You aren't old enough to enter the club so I'm gonna need you to keep watch." Qrow said silently as the two approached the club's entrance.

"There has to be something I can do. How about you sneak me in?" Jaune said.

"The only thing I need you to do for now is to wait outside. The time will come when I will need your help, but for the time being just stand over there against the wall." Qrow pointed to the wall facing the club that was covered in graffiti and had other shady people standing around.

"If something happens out here and you need my help don't hesitate to call me." Qrow said.

"Yea… okay." Jaune looked down in shame. He really wanted to help him gather information and be useful for once in his life. He was always the person who no one would ask for help. Jaune really wanted to be helpful in combat, but it seems whatever he does, makes things worse. Qrow entered the club and disappeared inside the crowd, whereas Jaune walked over the graffiti covered wall and simply put on his hoodie and leaned against the wall.

"So did you hear about the incident in Vale?" said one of the guys who were standing next to Jaune.

"You mean the attack by a whole mess of Grimm and White Fang soldiers?" another said. The group of people that were talking caught Jaune's attention and paid close attention to their conversation, hoping to pick up some useful information that he can tell Qrow.

"Yea, that's the one. I heard a rumor that a…" Jaune was distracted by a man who approached him.

"Got any money to spare man?" A man who seemed high off of something was asking the boy for money.

"Sorry I don't." Replied Jaune, he kept his head low to avoid his face from being seen.

"Come on man, I just need a few bucks."

"Like I said, I don't have any money on me."

"Don't be like that! I know you have money." The man started to get aggressive.

"AH! I said I don't! Leave me alone!" Jaune yelled, frustrated at the man for distracting him.

The man quickly pulled out a knife and attacked Jaune.

"Jaune saw the knife coming and managed to avoid the strike and instinctively pulled out Crocea Mors and swung at the man's hand that wielded the knife, slicing it in two.

"AHH! YOU SON OF A BITCH! MY HAND!" yelled the drugged man who held his bleeding wrist.

Everyone looked at the commotion and took notice at the man who held his arm.

No one bothered doing anything and went about their business as if this were something that commonly happened in the area. The man ran and disappeared in the dark alley. Jaune put away Crocea Mors and leaned back against the wall.

 _Dammit! The people who were talking about Beacon left, why the hell would that stupid druggy do something like that. I'm amazed that no one called the police or did something to me after what I did. I didn't even want to attack him. It was like a natural instinct or something that made me attack. Is it a side effect of having this Dark presence in me?_ Jaune thought to himself, trying to keep a calm mind. Qrow walked out of the front entrance and approached the blonde knight.

 _It would be best if I keep what happened moments ago a secret. The last thing I want to do is get Qrow upset and let him find out that I made a big commotion._ Jaune thought to himself.

"So did you find any useful information?" Jaune asked.

"Yup. I'll tell you what I found out back in the hotel where we will be staying for the night." Qrow said.

 ***RING RING RING*** Jaune's phone went off and looked to see who was calling. It was Ruby and Qrow immediately noticed the face on the phone and quickly pulled the phone out of Jaune's hand.

"HEY!" Jaune yelled.

"Hello? Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Sorry Jaune can't get to you right now. To leave a call back number press 5, to leave a"

"UNCLE QROW! WHY DO YOU HAVE JAUNE'S PHONE!"

"He had to do something so he told me to hold his phone while he was gone."

"That's not true!" Jaune said loudly.

"I just heard Jaune in the background uncle Qrow."

"What do you need Ruby?"

"I just want to know if he was safe before I head off to bed."

"It's 2 am, you should have been in bed 4 hours ago."

"Yea but I can't sleep unless I know my teammate is safe."

"Ugh fine. I'll pass you to him." Qrow gave back Jaune's phone and continued walking towards the direction of the hotel they will be staying.

"Hey Ruby, how are you?"

"I'm doing fine, how about you? Find anything interesting on your trip?

"I'm doing fine considering I nearly died only once."

"What happened!?"

"Relax, some druggy wanted money and pulled a knife on me. Let's just say, I HANDled the situation." Jaune laughed at the last part.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh nothing, just an inside joke that's all. Anyways, was there something you wanted to talk about?"

"Um… nooo. Why you ask?

"Well you called me so I thought there was something you needed."

"Oh uhhh no. I just wanted to know if you were doing fine on your small trip."

"Don't worry about me Ruby. I'm fine. You sound just like my mother you know that?"

"Oh shut up. Anyways come home soon, everyone misses you, especially me." Ruby said, blushing from the other side of the phone.

"Once I'm done over here I will get back to beacon as soon as possible. I'll even bring you back a souvenir if you want."

"Ooooh! I'm looking forward to seeing my gift!"

"Alright Ruby, I'll see you soon. Bye." Jaune hanged up and proceed to follow Qrow to the hotel.

* * *

The Victor Hotel

"So why did Ruby call you?" Qrow was in the bathroom brushing his teeth getting ready for bed.

"She wanted to know if I was doing fine." Jaune said. He was already in bed and was reading the local newspaper.

"Is she always worried about you blondie?"

"She became more concerned about me after Pyrrha's passing. That's one of the many things I came to like about her. You don't see someone with a personality like that anywhere these days."

"That's just the kind of person Ruby has always been. She sees the good in people and that is one of the many reasons why I didn't want her to become a huntress."

"What do you mean?" Jaune put down the newspaper and looked at Qrow who was came out of the bathroom and got on his bed.

"She is nice, too nice. I don't like to think about it, but one of these days her kindness could possibly get her killed."

"That's not going to happen. I will make sure nothing happens to her Qrow, you can trust me on that."  
"You need to learn to protect yourself first. Tomorrow morning will be your first day of training and I am not gonna go easy on you."

"I know that. I'm ready for anything."

"Well are you ready enough to take on a 30 White Fang soldiers?"

"30? Was that what you found out in the club?"

"Yea and apparently there is going to be a very important meeting involving some high ranking officials of the White Fang back at Vale. This could possibly be a trap, but I am 85 percent sure that at least one of the officials that knows about the attack will be there."

"So we're attending this wonderful rally?"

"I am, but you aren't."

"I can help you if things go south!" Jaune said getting out of bed.

"If you can improve your combat skills before the gathering, I will consider you helping me."

"Ugh, fine." Both Qrow and Jaune fell asleep and slept through the night.

* * *

Discovery

"You seem to know how to strategically get to your objective during a fight. You also know how to dodge efficiently, but your sword play still needs work. Lucky for you, I am considered one of the deadliest swordsmen in Remnant."

"Are you?"

"Well I like to think so. I'm not the type of person who enjoys having a spotlight on them every day. In any case, come at me with your sword and only your sword."

"Okay, if you say so." Jaune pulled out his sword and took his stance. Qrow pulled out his Greatsword and immediately attacked Jaune. Jaune saw the attack coming and rolled to the right.

"Nice dodge there." Qrow quickly went for another swing which Jaune continued to avoid every hit.

"Avoiding my attacks will not help you out all the time kid." Qrow increased his swinging speed which made it more difficult for Jaune to avoid.

"START ATTACKING!" Qrow yelled.

Jaune swung his sword and aimed for Qrow's ribs but was stopped by his greatsword and Jaune was now trying to overpower Qrow.

"If you can't overpower your opponent, it is best to think of a way to get him open to an attack!" Qrow overpowered the boy and hit Jaune's chest which sent him a few feet back. Jaune ran back to the dusty old man then went for a jump attack. Qrow had no problem blocking Jaune's attack and used a large amount of force to push him back.

"If you continue to rely on strength alone, you will surely fail!" Jaune took a deep breath and analyzed Qrow.

 _He's right. Brute strength alone won't help me at all in this battle. His weapon weights a lot more than my sword, so it must be somewhat difficult for him to perform these types of swings repeatedly. My best bet is to go for a counter attack in the last second._ Jaune ran back to Qrow and thrusted his sword straight towards Qrow's stomach.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Qrow used his strength and his greatsword's weight to slash at the incoming attack hoping to stop the attack and sent his opponent flying. Jaune expected this from Qrow and moved to the side in the last moment, nearly missing Qrow's greatsword and making his mark. Qrow was sent back a step, but the attack didn't faze him. He quickly went for charged up attack and struck down on the surprised knight. Jaune quickly used Crocea Mors to block the impending attack. The amount of force that Qrow put into the swing caused the ground to shatter, but Jaune was still on his feet.

"What the hell!?" Qrow yelled. He took a few steps back and tried to figure out why didn't his attack work. Jaune's sword began to glow and the power behind Qrow's attack was absorbed and coursed through Jaune's body enhancing his speed and his strength. Jaune noticed this sudden surge and decided to use it to his advantage. Jaune's speed allowed him to surprised Qrow and didn't allow him time to block or evade the attack. Jaune's attack hit and the impact sent Qrow sliding back several feet away.

"Whoa!" Jaune said. He walked over to his teacher that was in Awe.

"Oh man, what the hell was that attack." Qrow looked at the blonde's weapon.

"I don't know, maybe the Dark power?"

"No that can't be it. Hey kid, let me see your sword." Jaune proceeded to give him his sword and looked at the dusty old crow as he analyzed it.

"Where did you get this sword from kid?"

"It's a hand-me-down from my great great grandfather."

"Interesting, it seems your weapon absorbed my strong attack and was used to enhance your speed and strength." Qrow gave back Jaune's weapon and went to take his stance to continue the training.

"That's awesome!" Jaune yelled as he lifted up his sword with pride.

"Let's try that again, this time I will be holding back on my attack so that I can test the theory out." The two took their stance and Qrow swung his sword and landed against Jaune's weapon.

"Now attack me." Qrow said as he was ready to block the incoming attack. Jaune ran and attacked the drunk man. Jaune's speed and strength wasn't equal to that of his previous attack. "Each time your sword makes contact with the enemies attack, it will immediately be transferred to you. If your sword gets hit with tremendous force, it would be best to use the energy behind it cautiously. It will not last long so it would be best to use it to its fullest."

"I get it now. Man, grandpa really had powerful weapons in his arsenal."

"Let's see what other tricks your stuff can do."

* * *

The Gift

Nearly a week passed since his departure and Jaune began to be efficient in his sword play and increased his strength, speed, and balance. Although he did become a better swordsman, there were still some aspects in his fighting that he needed to work on that Qrow wasn't efficient in, in order to become a threatening huntsman. The two went back to Vale hours before the anticipated meeting occurred and Jaune had the enough time to get back to the school and talk with his friends about his short adventure with Qrow.

"So then Qrow managed to get us a V.I.P room that came with free food and drinks with an amazing view of the movie for FREE!" Jaune said with a smile on his face.

"WHY DIDN"T HE TAKE ME?!" Yang demanded to know.

"That's because me and Qrow are now best buds." Jaune said with a grin on his face.

"Oh shut up!" Yang said loudly. She was jealous of the stories Jaune has been telling them about their trip in Victorville.

"Did you guys do anything else besides party all night?" Ren asked.

"Actually we did. We manage to gather intel about a meeting that's going to happen in a warehouse in Vale that involves high ranking White Fang officers." Jaune said with a serious tone.

"What is the exact location that the meeting will be and what time will it start?" Blake asked.

"Sorry but Qrow said that none of you can go along."

"That's not fair! We've stopped Torchwick and his gang once before. We can handle ourselves fine! Blake said angrily

"She's right Jaune and besides, we know you can't stand a chance against a White Fang member that is considered a high ranking official. He can probably kill you in seconds if you don't have any sort of back up." Weiss added.

"Sorry but no matter what you say, it will not change my mind." Jaune said as he leaned back in his chair.

"How about we beat the information out of him guys." Yang said as she cracked her knuckles.

"Wait! Hold on just a second! I can't go either so if you are going to beat anyone up, it should be Qrow."

"Yea but why would we do that if you're right here and already got the info we need." said the feisty yellow haired woman as she grabbed Jaune by the shoulders.

 _I hope Qrow doesn't get mad at me for this. Why does this always have to happen to me!_ Jaune thought to himself.

"OKAY FINE! I'll take you where it's going to be, but you need to get my back if Qrow gets upset at me."

"DEAL!" Yang said, letting Jaune go.

"We still have hours before the meeting happens, let's just take it easy and get ready before it starts."

"Oh Ruby, I got you a souvenir that you wanted back in my room. Let's go and get it so that you can take it back to your room." Jaune said walking towards his dorm room.

"SWEET!" Ruby yelled.

"Did you bring anything for us!?" Yang demanded to know.

"You guys didn't call me to bring you something so I thought you guys didn't want anything from my trip." Jaune said.

Yang got upset and simply turned her back to him.

The two students went towards JNR's dorm room and walked towards the knight's bed.

"Here's your gift." The gift was a gold ring that held a small light green gem that glowed.

"Oooh it's beautiful!" Ruby told the blonde knight.

"I got it from an old shop at Victorville. The man behind the desk told me that this ring was created centuries ago by a woman who gave it to her husband to heal him during any battles he confronted during the war. He told me this ring was special so I thought this would make the perfect gift."

"I love it Jaune." Ruby place the ring through her ring finger and hugged the boy.

"You always seem to like old stuff huh Jaune." Ruby said, smiling at him.

"Yup and usually they become really reliable."

"Did you get anything else from that shop?"

"As a matter of fact, yes I did." Jaune pulled out another ring that seemed a little damaged but the engravings it had still remained.

"Oooh what is it." Ruby looked at it with interest.

"The shopkeeper told me that this ring was also created during the war by a man named Victor von Vanquisher. The family was said to rule a small kingdom which is now called Victorville. The family was said to be physically strong and apparently the family dispersed and the only thing remained that was made from Victor was this ring" The ring was silver and dark. It had a carved image of a hill that had markings that made it seem like the top of the hill was shining.

"He told me that this ring made the wearer physically stronger. It's probably fake, but I like the look of it." Jaune said putting on the ring.

"Well I think it looks great and who knows, it probably will." Ruby looked at Jaune with a smile on her face.

 _I hope yours works too…Ruby._ The blonde stared at the smiling rose and smiled himself. The two went back down to the others and began getting ready.

The group got their stuff ready and did a little bit of training before the meeting started. They left right when everyone was asleep and were a bit late reaching their destination.

* * *

First In Line

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby yelled. The group saw Qrow outside the warehouse looking around.

"SHHH!" The rest of the group shushed Ruby hoping that the White Fang members did not hear that. Qrow walked over to the group with an upset look on his face.

"What are you guys doing here!? I thought I told you Jaune that I didn't want you especially the rest of your friends here."

"I was threatened. I didn't want to get beat upped by Yang."

"Whatever. I need you guys to stay out here and keep watch. Jaune, you are coming with me inside. Apparently someone knew about the meeting and already took out the officials, all but one."

"Someone was already here? Is someone else after the same people that we are after? Could it be General Ironwood?" Jaune asked Qrow.

"No. General Ironwood would have arrested them and not killed any of them and pulled all their bodies in a ditch, especially leaving one alive and tied to a chair."

"Tied to a chair? So are we dealing with a Vigilante or what?" Ruby asked her uncle.

"I don't know what we are dealing with. Whoever it is, he must be really sneaky because he or she managed to catch almost every Faunus off guard. In any case let's go Jaune. We're going to ask a few questions to the person tied to the chair."

"I'm going with you." Blake said.

"Sorry but this is our case, not yours." Qrow told the Faunus.

"I know for a fact that a man named Adam Taurus was behind the attack. I'm not sure if he was working alone and if he wasn't he could lead you to his partners. I know him better than any of you and if you could let me help you with the investigation, I will be able to track him down easily. I know how he works, what he thinks, and what moves he would do next." Blake told Qrow.

"Well since all of you already know what we're doing, you might as well join us inside. However, I'm going to need the rest of you to keep watch."

The three walked into the warehouse while the others stayed back and kept watch for anything or anyone suspicious that might come out or walk in. Once the three were inside they were met with what seemed to be eight dead White Fang soldiers. The one left alive was tied to a chair in the middle of the room, gagged.

Jaune and Blake went to observe the dead bodies and noticed that some of them had their throats slit.

"Whoever the person was, he is definitely skilled. I'm kinda a little frightened to be honest."Jaune said.

"Agreed" Blake said.

Qrow walked over to the Faunus who was gagged and frightened of him. Qrow ungagged him and he began to talk.

"P-Please don't hurt me! I already told him everything I know! Please just let me live!" The Faunus yelled at the man.

"Settle down. I am not here to torture you or do anything to you… unless you don't tell me what I want to know."

"I-I already told the other guy everything. Just let me go please!"

"Relax. How about we start with this other guy who came for you and your friends here."

"That crazy psycho tortured me and killed my friends! He-he wanted information about the attack on Beacon."

"What kind of information did he want to know?" Jaune asked as he walked over to the Faunus.

"He wanted to know who was behind the attack! I told him that I only knew that Adam Taurus was leading the attack and that he was going to be meeting one of his associates outside of Atlas, in a village called Roland!"

"Did you tell him when the meeting will be?"

"Yea I did. I didn't want my throat slit like my friends. It was going to be 3 weeks from now."

"Interesting, do you know how the guy looks like?"

"He was about that kid's age." The Faunus looked at Jaune.

"He was wearing all black outfit, black boots, a black bulky looking vest, black tactical gloves, he also wore some sort of headband, and his hairstyle it was a uhh… a Faux hawk."

"I have no clue who that kid could possibly be, but whoever he is you kids should tread lightly from now on. Something tells me that this kid most likely attends Beacon."

"Do you really think so?" asked Blake

"It's a probability so just make sure you watch for any person who might fit the picture."

"Hey! You aren't going to leave me here are you!?" The Faunus yelled at the three who walked towards the exit.

"Don't worry pal, law enforcement should be arriving any minute now to pick you and your buddies up." Qrow said as he walked through the door with the other two.

"I'LL PAY YOU TO LET ME GO! PLEASE! COME BACK! PLEASE! PLEASE!" The three left the warehouse and joined back with the group to tell them what they found out.

The group then left and headed towards town, wondering who could this stranger be.

"Please... Please come back" The Faunus cried these words over and over. A phone was strapped to the Fuanus's chest.

"You've done your part... now it's time for me to do mine... for Ash."

"PLEASE DON'T! The warehouse blew up and sparks went flying to the air. The city could see the massive explosion from miles away and this startled the team that had just been there minutes ago.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Qrow yelled. He ran back to see what had happened and commanded the others to get back to the city.

"You guys keep going, I'm going back for Qrow!" yelled Jaune at the team.

"We're coming with you!" Ruby yelled.

"No you aren't! I need you and the rest of the team to be safe Ruby! You hear me! I can't afford to lose someone else close to me! I'm begging you please!"

"... Fine! But come back safe!"

"I will." Jaune then ran back towards the direction of the warehouse and upon reaching it was startled. What was once a warehouse, was now a giant blaze of fire. What is going on?

The night ended with a question left on their minds. Who is the mysterious guy who found out about the meeting being held in Vale? How did he manage to get there and get the information he was looking for so quickly? Was this guy the reason for the explosion? Whoever this stranger was, it seems that he is also after the people responsible for the attack. Whether he is on Jaune's side or not, they will take caution if they approach this mysterious fellow at Roland Village.

 **Sorry for the late chapter guys. There was a little bit of thinking because I was trying to think of a cool ability that Jaune's sword can have. The one that I made isn't as cool as many other ideas, but I want to avoid making him too overpowered. I also want to talk about this introduction to these rings. This might be a spoiler if you guys enjoy surprises for a future chapter that will bring these rings into play, but I'm pretty sure you guys have an idea of what these rings will do. Now I will not add a whole tons of rings. These 2 rings will probably be the only ones in the story... probably. If you want to know where the rings came into mind, you can search up Dark souls. The ring that was given to Ruby is called "Ring of Restoration" and Jaune's is "Vanquishers Seal". Now to avoid any spoiler warning, I suggest you just search up the image to avoid getting possibly spoiled of what these rings do.**

 **Lastly, there was a PM sent to me with a Darker story with Jaune that kinda creeped me out. It was really good, pretty gruesome and pretty freaky. But what freaked me out the most, was that the username who had sent me the PM kind of had my real name, but it was misspelled. Some might not find this creepy, but I found it terrifying. To the person who sent me their gruesome fanfiction, you should upload it so that others can read it as well. That's all for now. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7 - Fists of Fury

**Chapter 7 – Fists of Fury**

A week passed since the incident in Vale and the two groups have been continuing to go to school and wait for the inevitable meeting. Jaune has been continuing to improve his skills day in and day out. His friends have been trying to stop him from over exhausting himself, but he continued to insist that if he wants to have a standing chance against a big threat, he will need to get better. Jaune doesn't want to rely on Dark power alone because of the possibility of him turning on his own friends. Every night was the same nightmare that has been reoccurring ever since the day he lost Pyrrha. This was a reminder for him to remember why he is trying to get better. Although Qrow and Ironwood had told Jaune to stay away from revenge, he wants the person who caused this pain to be erased from Remnant… even if it kills him. Since the warehouse incident, it has been calm and nothing out of the ordinary has been going on. No signs of the mysterious man and any crime that could possibly be traced back to the White Fang. The only thing that the students could do at this time was to continue going to school.

"I can't just stand here doing nothing but studying. I could use this time to get back to training." Jaune said as Professor Port was telling a story of his youth to the class.

"And so there I was… cornered by 20 Beowolfs. It seemed like that was the end for me, but I found the will to fight and so I…" Professor Port said as he continued his story.

Jaune put his head down and looked to the right. His eyes immediately locked on to a guy who had a Faux Hawk hairstyle.

 _"_ _Since when was that student in my class? I never noticed him at all this week. It's probably the training that has me out of it. Could that be the guy that the Faunus officer was talking about? Oh who am I kidding, almost everyone these days have a Faux Hawk. It's become a trend and very popular so the chances of him being the culprit is close to zero. This is like what? The 8_ _th_ _time?"_ Jaune thought.

 ***RING*** The bell sounded to signal the end of class and the start of lunch. Everyone got their bags and walked out of the class. However, Jaune took his time packing his bags in hopes that the Faux Hawk fellow walked out before him.

"Jaune what's taking so long!" Nora yelled at the blonde. The stranger looked at the source of the yelling and simply continued walking.

"Nora!" Jaune said quietly. Jaune looked back at where the Faux Hawk fellow was and he was gone.

"What did I do!?" Nora said.

"Nevermind… let's go get lunch with the rest of the team." The two proceeded to head to the lunch room and take their seats with the others.

"So then Blake managed to take out these crooks in seconds!" Yang said to the group

"What did I say about this? No vigilante work! I don't want any of you involved in that." Jaune said angrily.

"Chill out vomit boy, Blake wasn't alone. I was there to help her out." Yang said to the blonde.

"I don't care. What if something went horribly wrong!?"

"You need to relax Jaune. We can take care of ourselves just fine."

"Ugh fine. Just make sure you guys tell me if you go out and do any vigilante work so that I can know exactly where you guys are at just in case things do go wrong."

"Okay, but I doubt you will do anything helpful if you come exhausted after training so long." Blake said with a slight giggle.

"Ha ha, that was so funny I forgot to laugh. Anyways, I saw a guy with a Faux Hawk that could possibly be the mysterious fellow that the White Fang Officer had mentioned."

"What makes you think that?" Ruby asked.

"Well uhhh… he has a Faux Hawk?" Jaune said nervously.

"Jaune… you can't just go around and point fingers just because he has a Faux Hawk. That's like the 10th time you said that and none of them were even the slightest suspicious." Ren told the blonde boy.

"Actually, 7th time to be exact. Anyways, this time I am right. I am certain." Jaune said, crossing his arms.

"Ugh… fine, where is this dude at?" Yang asked.

"Well, I think I saw him go into the combat training room, but I could be wrong since Nora kept blocking my view.

"HEY! I didn't know." Nora said.

"Let's go check then. If he sees us we'll just say that we happened to pass by and seem him sparring." Yang said.

"Ok, sounds like a good idea." Ruby said.

The group headed towards the training room to see this mysterious fellow, but ended up bumping into him instead.

"Ouch!" Yang said. She had crashed to the guy that was reading a book.

"Oh sorry, I was too focused on my book." The guy said.

"Watch where you're walking dude." Yang said angrily.

"Hey! I said I was sorry sunflower."

"You're that guy!" Jaune said loudly.

"Yes, I'm that guy. Nice to meet you. I'm going to leave now." The guy said as he tried to walk around Yang and the others. Yang however, stepped to the side to stop the guy from heading towards his destination. She continued this pattern until the student responded to her actions.

"What are you a Mime? Can you move? I'm trying to go somewhere.

"Oh I'm a Mime now? I thought I was a sunflower? Yang said angrily

"Okay, since you seem to love sunflower more, I will be sure to call you that from now. Can you move Sunflower?"

"No! I can't nerd."

"Oh… your words hurt me. I will be sure to cry about it in my dorm room, which I will be heading towards now."

"Your sarcasm really annoys me you know?"

"I apologize for my sarcasm madam, allow me to remove myself from your presents." The boy turned around and walked the other way. Yang quickly walked towards the boy and placed her hand on his shoulder and stopped him from leaving.

"Yang, let him go." Blake said.

"You heard the cute kitten, let me go."

"What did you say!?" Blake said angrily. Without a sign, Yang had swung at the boy who had his back towards the group. However, the student moved to his side and quickly got around her and took her down by grabbing her arm and sweeping her legs. The boy now held Yang's arm in a position where it can easily be broken.

"HEY! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Blake pulled out Gambol Shroud and attacked the boy who held her teammate. The boy let go of Yang and turned his attention towards the Faunus and back stepped to avoid the dual wielding attack.

"What's going on here?!" Professor Goodwitch said as she walked towards the crowd.

"We were just having a friendly game of charades professor." The guy said to the instructor.

"By the looks of it, you three were fighting."

"He started it!" Blake said.

"I started it? Unless bumping into someone accidentally is starting it then guilty is charged." The Faux Hawked student said.

"Why is it that it's always you James that has to start these ridiculous confrontations?" Professor Goodwitch asked the Faux Hawked student.

"I thought I made myself clear to call me Jay professor!"

"How about I make myself clear and tell you to go towards the detention room where you will be spending the rest of your lunch time at." Goodwitch said with an annoyed tone.

"Might as well name the room Jay's room since that's where I go just about every single day." The boy proceeded to head toward the room's direction and was gone.

"Sorry if he caused trouble for all of you. He can be a bit of a handful sometimes." Glynda said.

"It's fine. We were just here in the wrong time." Jaune said. The professor then left and the group had begun to talk about what just happened. Everyone now had a small feeling that this student could possibly be the guy that the Faunus Officer had talked about.

"I still don't know how he knew my secret. DID ANY OF YOU TALK!?" Blake said out loud.

"NO! We wouldn't do that, you know that Blake." Yang said, as the others nodded in agreement.

"In any case, we should keep an eye on him." Ruby said.

"We shouldn't do anything! I'm going to alert Qrow about the discovery and all of you will let him handle it." Jaune said. While he was arguing with the others, Yang walked up to the blonde and grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him against the wall.

"If you tell Qrow anything, I will make it my mission to break your third leg. You understand?" Yang whispered to Jaune. Her eyes turned red because of the humiliation she just went through and what he called Blake.

"Okay." Jaune's voice cracked when he said that. Fearing for his manhood that will most likely be gone if he did tell Qrow about the information.

"Good. Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm headed to my room. I need to go grab my book for the next class." Yang smiled and walked away.

"I guess we should head back towards the Lunch room and think about what we should do." Ren said as they all left towards the lunch room.

* * *

You Shook Me All Night Long

"Yeah you… shook me all night l" Jay's earphones were pulled out of his ears by Yang who arrived into the detention room.

"Hey! What was that for? I was listening to one of my favorite bands!" Jay told the red eyed girl. Yang put the earphones on and listened to the song for a couple of seconds.

"Never heard of them." Yang said as she pulled the earphones out and placed them on the table, along with his iPhone.

"Never heard them!? You probably never heard of ELO either huh!"

"ELO what?"

"You're serious?" Jay took a deep breath then exhaled and sat back down to his seat.

"So are you here for my head because of what I did back there? If you are let me tell you, it's going to take more than words to get it."

"What you said back there pissed me off. I should really tear you a new one for doing what you did back there."

"Well you're going to need to buy me dinner before you do that sweetheart."

"Do you take any of this seriously? Yang said, getting annoyed by the student.

"I stopped taking things seriously a while ago. How about I apologize to you and your friends and pretend we ever met? Sounds good?

"I'll tell you what, you beat me in a sparring match tomorrow and I'll accept your apology and let you take me on a date."

"A date?" Jay took a deep breath and released it.

"Sorry Sunflower, but I am not interested in a date right now."

"Then why are you still hitting on me then?" Yang asked as she got close to the student.

"Is that what you think I'm doing? Sorry, but this is how I am. I have been this way for weeks now and I can't really control it. I tend to talk this way with just about everyone. That might explain why I have absolutely no friends, but hey, what can you do? Am I right?"

"Well for starters, you can stop acting that way."

"Hmmm… nah. I'm fine with the way I am."

"Alright fine, if you win my friend and I will apologize for what we did."

"And if I lose?"

"I will get the satisfaction of beating you to a pulp and have you take me on a date."

"Well, after much thought I have no choice but to sadly accept your challenge."

"I'll see you tomorrow then James." Yang winked at the student and walked out of the room.

"It's Jay!" Jay got his iPhone and put on his earphones.

"Starve the Ego, Feed The Soul… perfect."

The day went just like every other day in school. Everyone studied, went to their classes, and did a little bit of training in their spare time. Jaune on the other hand, spent most of his free time training in the training room. The school had brought in recently Atlas newest android model that knew every fighting style known to man. It had a difficulty meter that allowed the person training to set if he or she wanted intense training or not as well as an option to use a specific weapon or fighting style to train against. These androids were very durable so it would manage to not get destroyed so easily. There were a few free to use androids in the room that had multiple students already occupying some of these. This didn't stop Jaune from continuing to train himself to become the best Huntsman he can be. The night went by smoothly other than the fact that Yang got herself into a predicament that she is really looking forward to.

* * *

Hand to Hand

"Professor Goodwitch, I would like to make a request for today's sparring match." Yang said to the professor.

"What kind of request?"

"I want to spar with a specific person and he agreed to it."

"Okay sure. Who is the lucky person?"

"IT'S ME!" Jay screamed, as he spread his arms as if he were about to receive a giant hug. He wore a somewhat navy blue long sleeve with a blue sleeveless hoodie that he had on over his head.

"James!? Are you serious?" Professor Goodwitch asked. Jaune spat his drink and began choking on the water he had left in him.

"What is she thinking?! Why do you always do something like this Yang?!" Jaune couldn't believe that Yang would challenge the guy who they ran into the other day. He didn't want anyone to get physically involved with him.

"Relax Jaune, I'm sure she can take this guy." Blake said.

"Yes I'm sure." Yang told the professor as she heard James's voice correcting the professor of what his name is.

"Fine. Today's match will be Yang Xiao Long vs James Von Vanquisher.

Jaune spat out his drink and began to choke again.

"Von Vanquisher!?" Jaune could not believe what he was hearing. He could not believe what the man in the old shop in Victorville said was actually real. He would always leave his ring in his room or in his bag whenever he trained.

"Jaune did you hear what the professor just said!?" Ruby asked.

"YANG! YOU NEED TO FORFEIT THE MATCH NOW!" Jaune yelled.

"Why!?" Yang said loudly.

"This guy is the real deal! You're probably no match for him!"

"Don't be ridiculous! I can take him out with ease!"

"Mr. Arc! Take your seat and wait for your turn!" Professor Goodwitch said.

 _"_ _Dammit! What am I going to do now! It's just a sparring match, I need to calm down. He wouldn't make a scene."_ Jaune thought to himself.

"You should really listen to your blonde friend over there. He seems to know who I am now."

"Who you are now?" Yang asked.

"BEGIN!" Professor Goodwitch yelled.

Yang was caught off guard and Jay had used his aura to dash close to Yang. He went for a straight punch that Yang barely managed to avoid by rolling to the right and began to use her gauntlets to shoot at him. She swung several times, but none of the shots made its mark on Jay. He kept moving out of the attacks and ran towards the girl who was still on her knee swinging endlessly. He went for a high kick that Yang managed to avoid by ducking and she immediately swung her fist at the boy who left himself open to the attack. He took note of what she was about to do and used the momentum to perform a roundhouse kick that allowed him to dodge the incoming attack and attack in one fell swoop. Yang was launched across the arena and held her face that was damaged.

"So you're a hand to hand fighter as well. Well, sort of." Jay said to the girl who sat on the floor.

"You talk too MUCH!" Yang yelled as she swung her arms repeatedly, launching several shots towards the boy in blue. He quickly avoided every attack and began to run straight towards Yang. Yang swung her arm at the boy who stood in front of her, but it was useless. The student managed to move to the side and avoid the attack. He kneed the girl in the stomach and went for a kick to the jaw that sent the girl flying in the air.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled.

She fell back down and slowly got back up to her feet.

"You're still standing? I applaud you. I haven't seen anybody stand back up after that attack."

"SHUT UUUP!" Yang's hair fired up and her eyes turned crimson as she sped towards the student. She shot backwards and used the recoil to send her flying towards Jay. Her strength had dramatically increased and the tactic she used to get to him caught him off guard and her attack landed. The strength behind the attack got him in the ribs and this made Jay cough out blood and was sent flying to the end of the arena. Yang's rampage didn't stop there. She ran towards the fallen student and went for a jump attack that had tremendous force behind it. Jay barely managed to move his head to the right and the attack missed. The floor completely shattered and an explosion was created that sent Jay hurling to the side of the arena. Jay used the momentum to get back to his feet, but the damage he had sustained from Yang's punch was still lingering.

"RAAAAAHHHH!" Yang yelled, as she sped towards the student. Along the way she shot several times at Jay who continued to avoid the shots by moving his body. Yang got up close and swung several times at Jay. Jay managed to disrupt every move by using his strength to chop the punch out of its intended target. Jay then grabbed Yang's arm when she swung at him again and he used the power behind the punch to his advantage and threw her over him. She was sent sliding away from him. She quickly got back up and ran at him again.

"HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING!?" Jay yelled as he coughed out a little bit of more blood. Yang on the other hand, did have quite a few scratches and bruises, and was bleeding out of her mouth. She again ran towards Jay with intentions of beating him to a pulp. Jay pulled out his Colt M1911a1s ivory gripped, blue engraved pistols and shot several times at the crimson eyed girl while running to avoid the rounds from hitting him. She didn't expect Jay to have any long range attacks and took the impact of the rounds. She still had some aura left so she was able to take the attack head on luckily. She rolled out of the way from the other shots that were sent and ran towards the student that was running towards her as well. Both shot several times at each other and every round made contact with one other. Jay quickly holstered his pistols and both were ready to unleash their last attack. Yang's punch had every ounce of strength she had left in it and skinned Jay's face, but Jay's punch had landed on the left side of her face knocking her unconscious on the floor.

Jay coughed out more blood and collapsed to one knee.

"The match is over! James Von Vanquisher wins!"

"It's Jay." Jay said, breathing heavily after the intense sparring match which was pretty much a insane battle.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled.

"Ruby stay here I'm going to get Yang." Jaune said.

Jay who was on one knee got back to his feet and walked towards the unconscious girl who laid on her side. He crouched and was about to pick Yang up.

"GET YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM HER! Blake yelled, as she ran towards the battlefield.

"MS. BELLADONNA! STOP!" Professor Goodwitch yelled.

"Mr. Vanquisher is going to take your friend to the infirmary."

"What?" Blake looked at the direction where the boy was and he had Yang on his arms, walking towards the exit.

"If you want to help your friend, I suggest you come with me!" Jay said loudly to Blake as he stopped and looked at the Faunus. Blake ran to their direction and both exited the area.

"The rest of Team RWBY can wait here until the end of class to see your fellow teammate." Goodwitch said.

 _"_ _The old guy from the shop wasn't lying when he said the Vanquisher family were strong. Does that mean that the ring actually has something special? This Jay guy doesn't seem someone who would do something terrible. The description that the White Fang Officer gave is different than what Jay was wearing. Could he possibly have that specific outfit hidden in his room? I'll just wait later tonight and go through his room, but wait…I don't know where his room is. I better ask Ozpin for his team's dorm room location."_ Jaune thought to himself.

Back with Jay and Blake, they were walking towards the infirmary and began talking about the situation that had happened yesterday.

"Hey, I want to apologize for what I said the other day. I didn't mean it as an insult. I meant it as a compliment." Blake's face blushed.

"How did you know that I was a Faunus?" Blake asked, as she looked down in embarrassment.

"Wait… you're a Faunus?" Jay asked in a surprised voice.

"Wait! What! I thought you knew I was a Faunus!" Blake's face blushed even more, this time it was as red as Ruby's cape.

"Oh… so that bow was for you to hide the fact that you're a Faunus?"

"uh… yeah. Human's aren't the best when it comes to equality these days."

"I can agree to that." The two made it to the infirmary and placed Yang onto the comfy bed.

"I want to ask you a question if you don't mind." Blake said.

"Hit me."

"Why did you carry Yang to the infirmary? You didn't have to you know."

"I'm the one who did this to her. That and I can't just stand by and watch a person who is hurt stay on the floor without any help. It's in my nature." Jay said, staring at Yang who was asleep on the bed.

"Oh, I see… Can I ask you another question."

"Yea of cou" Jay began to cough out blood again and collapsed to one knee.

"Are you alright!?" Blake asked worriedly.

"I think Yang's attack caused some internal bleeding and probably fractured my ribs." Jay said, chuckling a bit.

"Let me help you get on the other bed! I'm going to contact the nurses about your condition."

"Yea, sure, thanks." Blake helped the student up and placed him on the other bed.

"I'm going now. I'll see you later if they let me see you."

"Thanks" Blake walked out of the room and left to tell the nurses about the two.

* * *

Completed Puzzle

"So you want to know where's his team's dorm room is located? Ozpin asked Jaune.

"That's right. I have reasons to believe that this student could possibly be the person behind the explosion of the warehouse." Ozpin sighed at the statement and walked towards the window.

"Revenge seems to be a trend these days."

"Revenge? What are you talking about."

"It seems as though you aren't the only one who is trying to find the ones who caused the attack from weeks ago. Do you know about team JADE Jaune?"

"Never heard of them. How does this so called team JADE fall into this?"

"Well most of team JADE was here in Beacon during the attack. Ash, Dustin, and Ecru were one of the many who were protecting the civilians from the attacks by Grimm and the White Fang Soldiers. When I was given the names of those who died on the battlefield, their names were on the list. Jay on the other hand, was just arriving from a mission during the attack and later found out about the death of his whole entire team."

Many things went to Jaune's mind after listening to what Ozpin said. When he first looked at Jay, he looked perfectly fine. No sign of aggression other than his sarcastic ways. However, Jaune can't to stop to think about how he is really feeling inside. Jaune had lost Pyrrha and had felt as if he were in a pit of darkness. He couldn't imagine what Jay had to go through and unlike himself, Jay didn't have someone to pull him out of this pit. He had great sympathy for the student after hearing what Ozpin said.

"When I heard what happened to him, I couldn't imagine the pain he had to endure after learning about their deaths." Ozpin said.

"Do you know how they died?" Jaune asked.

"I have a good idea how they died, but that's something you need to ask Jay himself. It's not my place to say."

"I understand. Can you tell me his dorm room number so that I can confirm if it's true?"

"Of course."

Jaune then headed towards JADE'S dorm room to find the last piece of evidence that would 100 percent confirm that Jay was indeed the person behind the explosion. He unlocked the door and walked into the room. The room had 4 beds, a bathroom, a perfect view of the city, and also very clean… somewhat. The three beds had their own section in each side of the room. Each of their area was clean and still had their owners stuff on them. Jaune walked over to one specific side and looked around. He found a picture of Jay and his team on this bed. The picture had a girl who was slightly taller than Ruby, but had the exact same smile. She had average long brown hair, brown eyes, light skin, and wore a grey long sleeve lace dress. The other two were males who looked average built, both wore the same tan assassin looking jackets, but had different strip of color on one side. Jaune put the picture down where it was and started searching underneath the bed. He found a grey briefcase and pulled it out from underneath the bed and opened it. There were quite a bit of photos of Ash and Jay together in places that looked unfamiliar to Jaune. He looked through the rest of the briefcase, but found nothing. He placed the briefcase back underneath the bed and walked towards a different bed. This time he found a navy messenger bag. He looked through the contents inside the bag and found what he was looking for, but it didn't match the description. There was a navy blue head band, tactical utility belt and a navy blue tactical jumpsuit and vest.

 _"_ _The Faunus probably mistook the navy blue color for black. In any case, I have found the culprit. Now I'm going to need to confront him about this and see what happens there. The worst possible thing is that we might end up trying to kill each other. I just hope it doesn't have to come to that."_ Jaune thought.

 **Most of you are probably upset that I've added my own character into the fray, but I assure you he will come to grow on you eventually. He**

 **will be here for a while so all I can suggest is for you to get comfortable sorry. He will not steal Jaune's spotlight though, I guarantee it. So I**

 **do hope you enjoyed today's chapter and I will be seeing you next time!**


	8. Chapter 8 - No Rest For The Wicked

**Chapter 8 – No Rest For The Wicked**

The next morning, Jay awoke to the sight of Yang on his bed.

"Hey sunshine, what are you doing up so early." Jay said as he placed a pillow over his eyes to stop the light from hurting his eyes.

"Early? It's 11 am already. How is that early?" Yang asked.

"It's still morning so I still have plenty of time to catch some Z's. It's also hard to move when you have a few fractured ribs you know."

"I told you that I was going to beat you to a pulp didn't I?" Yang asked, grinning at the student.

"Well you did do that… somewhat. So let me hear it."

"Hear what?"

"Your apology… I did win didn't I?"

"Oh yea you're right. I am sorry for acting like a jerk and to make it up for you, I will take you on a date." Jay sighed at this statement and pulled the pillow out off of his eyes.

"I thought I told you that I'm not interested."

"Oh come on. It's the least I can do for you."

"How about just two friend going out to eat?"

"Yea sure two friends." Yang said, using her fingers as quotation mark around "Two friends".

"Well as you can see, this dinner meeting is going to need to be on hold. I can't really move around without hurting myself and I probably won't be out for a few days."

"Alright that's fine I'll see you when you get out." Yang got up and walked towards the exit.

"Hey Yang, you still look cute in those bandages." Jay said, grinning at his statement.

Yang's face turned red and her eyes as well and slammed the door behind door when she marched out of the room.

Hours passed and lunch had started. The teams were at their seat eating the lunch and were talking about Jay.

"Jay seems like a nice guy. It turns out he didn't know that I was a Faunus… till I accidentally asked him how he knew I was a Faunus." Blake said.

"Well I don't like him." Ruby said crossing her arms.

"What's so bad about him?" asked Ren.

"He beat upped my sister that's why. Whoever does that to her is no friend of mine."

"The nerve of that guy!" Yang said, marching towards the team and taking her seat.

"What did he do sis?" Ruby asked.

"He told me that I still looked cute with bandages on." Yang formed a fist with both of her hands and slammed them down to the table.

"Was that it?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah that's it! Can you believe the guy?"

"I will never understand women." Jaune said, as he placed his head down.

"So how is he doing Yang?" Blake asked.

"He has fractured ribs. That's all."

"It seems he is going to be stuck in the infirmary for a while." Ren said.

 _"_ _That's perfect. I will be able to go and confront him about this and with his injury, he won't be able to put up a fight if he does get aggressive. Qrow hasn't been answering his phone so I'm going to need to take the initiative."_ Jaune thought.

"I manage to find out from a student where his team's dorm room is at. We should all go and check for anything that could connect him to the person behind the explosion." Ren said.

"Yeah! He is currently unable to move so now would be the perfect time." Ruby excitedly said.

"Wait! Hold on! I already checked his room last night. There wasn't anything that traced him back to the meeting." Jaune said, trying not to sound like he is lying. He remembered not to scratch his head.

"WHAT! You went without us!?" Ruby exclaimed.

"Yeah. Why?"

"I wanted to feel like an actual detective that's why." Ruby crossed her arms again and looked away from Jaune.

"Forgive me Ruby. I didn't know you guys wanted to come along. You know that I would have asked you guys if I knew you were all interested." Jaune placed his hands in a praying position hoping for Ruby to accept his apology.

"Nope."

"Ruby please."

"Hmm… Nope."

Jaune sighed and decided to head towards the infirmary.

"Where are you going fearless leader?" Nora asked.

"Your fearless leader is going to his room to fetch a few things." Jaune proceeded to walk towards the infirmary. Seconds later, Ruby told her friends that she is going with Jaune.

"Why are you going with Jaune?" Yang asked.

"He owes me big time for not taking me to investigate." Ruby said. She began walking towards the direction in which Jaune went. She managed to catch up to him but began to trail him since the direction wasn't towards his room. Jaune reached the infirmary and walked in while Ruby stayed outside and listened in to what was about to happen.

"Jay…" Jaune said.

"Hey, you're that guy from Yang's group right?"

"Yea I am. I came here to ask a few questions if you don't mind."

"Is that what your friends do for fun? Ask people questions every day?

"No not really. Well then do you mind?"

"No I don't. Shoot away Yellow."

"I know this is going to come out as weird, but are you familiar with the White Fang organization?"

"Yeah I am familiar with them. Why?"

"There was an explosion a while ago that involved multiple White Fang Officers as well as soldiers. You don't happen to know anything about that do you?"

"I heard about the explosion, but didn't know there were any White Fang soldiers. It seems they got what they deserve."

 _"_ _It's hard to tell if he is lying or not. That facial expression gives me no indication that he is indeed lying, but the outfit I found proves that he was the person behind the blast. I need to push him even further."_ Jaune thought.

"Yeah I guess you can say that. I've heard that a young looking man wearing what it seemed like a navy blue outfit was seen leaving the area before the explosion."

"… Well whoever this guy is I want to start a fan club for him since he is doing the public a favor by getting rid of these pathetic no lives."

"Do you hate the White Fang? Is it because they are a Faunus group?"

"Don't categorize me with the people who discriminate against the Faunus. I have no issues with Faunus, but when it comes to the White Fang, they piss me off."

"Why is that?"

"I recall that you wanted to ask a few Questions. This isn't an interrogation."

"Do you think it is?

"Why don't you just come out and say it! You think it was me who caused that explosion don't' you?" Jay clenched his bed and gave an angry look at Jaune when he asked his question.

"Yes I do. I went to your room last night and found what match the description of the person leaving the scene."

"What were you doing in my room? Who in the hell gave you permission to go through my stuff?"

"I had the authority to go through your room and look through your stuff."

"Wait a minute… I remember that voice. You were the one who was interrogating that White Fang officer weren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're looking for the same people who attacked Beacon aren't you?"

"And if I was?"

"Then I can help you."

"Sorry, but I don't need help. I just need you to stay out of this. Drop this revenge thing you are going for because in the end, it won't accomplish anything."

"Revenge thing? Who told you about them?"

"No one… like I said drop it and forget about it. You will accomplish nothing if you get your revenge."

"Won't accomplish nothing? Won't accomplish nothing!? What would you know about accomplishing anything!? All you manage to do is stand by and watch people do the lifting for you!" This began to anger Jaune because what Jay said was the truth. All Jaune managed to do was get people to do the things for him.

"Tell me… how many people have you saved?"

"..."

"None? Ok then, how many times were YOU saved?"

"Shut up."

"A lot huh? Ok… how many people died saving you?

"Shut up!" Jaune had enough of his talking and grabbed Jay by the neck and began choking him.

"How… many… Jaune? ***Gasp*** " Jaune couldn't stop himself from choking him. He began to enjoy the sounds of the student trying to gasp for air.

"Do… ***Gasp*** you enjoy ***Gasp*** hurting others Jaune?" Jaune began to tighten his hand and before he could crush Jay's neck, Ruby slammed open the door.

"JAUNE STOP!" Ruby screamed. Jaune took back control of himself and let the student's neck go.

" ***Cough*** Why didn't you finish it?" Jay was getting air back to his lungs after the near death experience.

"Jaune what were you planning to do?" Ruby asked. She was terrified of what she saw. Her eyes began to tear up due to horrific face that Jaune had. He was smiling when he began to tighten his grip on Jay's neck. His gold eyes at the time was filled what it seemed like pleasure.

"I… I don't know… I'm sorry." Jaune quickly ran out the door leaving Ruby behind. She walked over to Jay who was feeling his neck.

"Are… are you alright?" Ruby asked. Her eyes had tears streaming down her face.

"I'm not the one who you should be checking on in the moment. You should go check on Jaune. He needs his friend right now." Jay laid back down and Ruby ran to find Jaune. She spent hours looking for him and she eventually found him sitting on top of the school's roof where he and Pyrrha used to train.

"Jaune…" Ruby said.

"I couldn't stop myself. It scares me to say it, but I was actually enjoying choking him Ruby. If you would not have come in, I would have killed him."

"Why… why did you do it?"

Why? He… he asked a personal question that ticked me off."

"What kind of question?" Ruby began walking closer to the blonde who sat near the edge.

"How many people… died saving me."

"Does he know?"

"I don't know." Ruby held the knight tightly in her arms.

"Ruby… do you think I'm a monster?" Jaune asked, his body facing away from her.

"I don't think you are a monster. I think you are somebody who wants to become something that can protect the ones he loves."

"I don't think this Dark Power will help me protect any of you, I think it might end up hurting all of you."

"It won't happen. I trust you enough to know that you won't allow anything like that to happen."

"Thank you Ruby." Jaune turned around and held the red hooded girl tightly to him, holding on to the only thing that is keeping him ashore.

* * *

Arrival

The long anticipated meeting was just a day away Jaune, Qrow, and the rest of the teams had reached Roland Village that was outside of Atlas. It was snowing heavily and the teams were sure to pack sweaters that would keep them warm while their stay at the village. A week before today, Jaune could not locate Jay anywhere in the school. He had left the infirmary after he had felt better and taken on a mission that was expected to be completed in two weeks.

"So where are we going to stay at?" Yang asked.

"We're going to stay at the Roland Inn that is a few blocks from here. I made sure that this hotel was safe for you two." Qrow said, placing his hand on Yang and Ruby's head.

"My legs were starting to kill me after walking that long trip. I can't wait to collapse on my bed." Jaune said. After walking a few blocks, the teams had finally arrived to the inn and were assigned to their rooms.

"This feels like heaven!" Jaune said as his face was against the bed.

"It does feel comfortable." Said Ren

"Well enjoy it while it lasts because tomorrow is the big day and we're going to need to go over our plan right now." As the group began to go over their strategy, someone knocked at the front door and Jaune proceeded to open it. Behind the door was a young man wearing a navy blue headband and tactical outfit.

"What up Yellow how's it going?" Time seemed to have stopped for Jaune. He didn't expect Jay to just come walking in and exposing himself to what could possibly be his enemy. The information that his group managed to gather through the warehouse incident made it seem as though Jay specialized in stealth, but to simply knock on the front door was unbelievable. Qrow looked at the kid's outfit and pulled out his greatsword and was ready to attack.

"WAIT QROW!" Jaune yelled.

"What do you mean wait? This kid is the one who cause the explosion back at Vale and who knows what he is planning to do here!" Qrow said, ready to attack the student at any given moment.

"He wants to get the people behind the attack, just like us."

"What makes you think that? He could have easily lied to you just so that he can get all of us on a single building and blow it up."

"I talked with Professor Ozpin. I know he won't do something like that."

"You talked with Professor Ozpin about what?" Jay asked Jaune.

"Oh… umm just to ask him where your room was."

"Was that it?" Jay asked as he stared at Jaune.

"Yup that's it." Jaune scratched the back of his head nervously.

"Well I don't care if he is on our side, he isn't staying here." Qrow said, as he placed his weapon away.

"Okay… but don't come crying to me when you find out who else is going to be at the meeting."

"Wait! What are you talking about?" asked Ren.

"I managed to get some information from some of the locals here that a man named Torchwick was going to be at the meeting along with another person named Rhett Wine."

"Torchwick and Rhett are going to be there!?" Qrow asked.

"I know who Torchwick is, but who is this Rhett guy?" Ren asked Qrow.

"You've heard about the kidnappings that had been occurring in Vale right? I have found out 3 days ago that a man named Rhett Wine is believed to be behind these kidnappings. For what reason? That's what I have been trying to figure out."

"I came here to warn you guys that there are going to be White Fang troops and thugs scanning the area of the meet. I'm going to take them out once the meeting has started and allow all of you to go in."

"I know that you specialize in stealth, but can you really handle all that? Qrow asked.

"Of course… it's something that I have been good at since I was a kid."

"Then here's the plan, Jay will take out the soldiers outside of the cabin house and we will wait until we listen into any useful information that can possibly lead us to any other person who could be possibly involved. Once we have gathered enough information we will go in and finish them off.

"This is what they deserve for what they did to us… to Pyrrha." Jaune said.

Jay looked at Jaune's eyes and was able to see what was inside of it. It had anger, despair, and determination.

"Jaune are you sure you want to get your revenge? Nothing good will come out of it." Qrow asked the determined knight.

"… Yes I'm sure." Jaune said confidently.

"Very well, but Jaune I have a favor to ask."

"What is it Qrow?"

"Promise me that whatever happens, make sure to keep Ruby and Yang safe.

"We will all be safe." Jaune went to relay the plan to the others and Blake insisted on joining them inside knowing that Adam will be there. Jaune had no choice but to give in to the Faunus's demands. The others were fine standing outside and keeping watch for any other soldiers. Jaune asked Jay to come with him to grab a bite to eat and Jay agreed to go.

* * *

Dates

While they were walking towards the exit of the building, Jaune began to apologize what had happened weeks ago.

"Hey Jay, I want to apologize for choking you back in school. There is something that I have that make me prone to anger and I couldn't control what I was doing."

"It's okay. Something tells me that we are on the same boat and from my point of view, I would probably had done the same thing if you were the one getting questioned."

"So… no hard feelings?"

"Yeah… no hard feelings."

"Where do you think you guys are going!?" Yang asked the two that were about to leave the Inn. She and her sister were there standing, crossing their arms.

"We're going to go get a bite to eat at a restaurant that's a few blocks away. Do you and Ruby want to go?" Jaune asked.

"Heck yeah we do!" Ruby yelled as she wrapped her red scarf around her neck and walked beside Jaune. Yang got her yellow scarf and walked by Jay's side and all four of them headed towards the restaurant.

"Jay you're not cold in that get up?" Yang asked.

"No not really. This outfit is designed to prevent me from getting cold in extreme cold weather. It pretty much cools me down or heats me up based on the temperature. It was created in Atlas by someone who I work closely with.

"That's freaking awesome! You should really get me one too, but I want mine stylish and yellow."

"I'll be sure to tell him to make you one just the way you like it." Jay smiled at her and they continued on the snowy path.

"This is actually my first time feeling snow. I have never seen or felt snow in person and I am really enjoying the view."

"Are you serious Jay?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah I'm serious. I'm from an area that never snows and it is usually dry and warm every day. I never liked the sun and prefer the cold winter feeling."

"Well this is the perfect place for you it seems." Jaune said. They made it to the restaurant and took their seats. They ordered a big meal for the four of them and munched down on it. They talked about school and funny stories that made everyone laugh. Their time together seemed as though they have known each other for decades. It was almost like a family enjoying a thanksgiving meal in the dinner table. They took their time eating, enjoying every second they had together before the big event. After they were done they decided to look around the village. The village didn't seem shady and instead felt welcoming to the four students. They entered gift shops and looked around trying to find something they felt was interesting. Jaune bought Ruby a Wolf plushy and Jay bought Yang a snow globe that had a shining sun that signaled the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. They made it back to the Inn and were ready to depart from one another.

"Hey Jay…" Yang said

"Yeah?"

"I want to thank you for the fun time I had. I really enjoyed it."

"I enjoyed it too. It was fun was it? It's been a while since I've had a bit of fun."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself. There is only one way I can thank you."

"A thank you isn't even necessary. It was something that I…" Jay got cut off by Yang's lips that had made contact with his. He was caught by surprise and it took him several seconds to realize what was going on. Jay placed his hands on Yang's waist and pushed her away.

"That was uhh… quite something. I better get to bed. You know I get cranky if I don't get sleep." Jay quickly walked away and headed towards his room. While this was going on, Jaune and Ruby were having a moment of their own.

"I had tons of fun with you Jaune." Ruby said, as she smiled at the blue eyed knight.

"I had fun too. The food there was amazing huh?!"

"Yea it was."

"Hey Ruby."

"Yes Jaune?"

Thanks for always being there for me."

"I will always be there for you Jaune. You're the many reasons why I never stop to think about not being a Huntress."

"Really?"

"Really. When I look at you, you give me energy and a reason to never give up on my dream and on you." Ruby got closer to Jaune and held him tight.

"Ruby what are you do" Jaune got cut off by the red hooded girl who tiptoe her way up to Jaune's lips and kissed him. For Jaune, it felt as if the world stopped turning just for him to enjoy the kiss that was laid on him. For a brief moment, everything that had been destroying him stopped. There was no Dark, no sadness, no anger, and nothing to worry about. He had never felt in ease since Pyrrah's death. Reality started to return and Jaune pulled his lips out of Ruby's.

"I uhh… thank you for that kiss. I will uhh… be on my way." Jaune walked towards his room and looked back at the short girl whose face was redder than her cape.

"What am I doing? Stupid, stupid, stupid!" Ruby said, talking to herself while slapping her head and walking back to her room. Yang and Ruby made it back to the room at the same time and saw each other's face. Both faces were crimson and opened the door to walk in. Inside was Weiss, Blake, and Nora who were waiting for them to get to bed.

"Why are your faces redder than someone's blood." Nora asked.

"MY FACE ISN'T RED!" Yang and Ruby yelled simultaneously. They both looked at each other and yelled again.

"WHY IS YOUR FACE RED?!"

"First off, where did you two go?" Weiss asked.

"We uhh… went with Jaune and Jay to go eat?" Yang said.

"YOU WHAT!" Weiss and Blake yelled..

"What did you two do!? Don't tell me you did what I think you did!" Blake said

"I uhh… accidentally kissed Jaune." Ruby said rubbing her hair.

"YOU DID WHAT!" Weiss, Yang, Blake and even Nora yelled at the same time.

"That's worse than me kissing Jay!" Yang yelled.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!?" Blake, Ruby and Weiss yelled.

"Are you telling me that both of you went on a double date with those two goofballs?" Weiss asked.

"Uhhh… yes?" Yang and Ruby said.

"Why would you do something like that?" Weiss asked Ruby.

"Why can't I?

"You're only 15 and he's 17!" Weiss said.

"I'm going to be 16 next week so it would only make a one year difference." Ruby said, crossing her arms.

"And he is turning 18 7 months from now!"

"Then I guess I should do as much as I can before he turns 18 right?"

"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING!?" Weiss and Yang yelled, both of their faces turning red.

"What about you Yang? I thought you hated the guy." Blake said.

"I never said I hated him."

"Well the fact that you tried to punch him the first time you met him seems to say you did."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Yang said as she went straight for her bed.

The girls continued to argue and Nora just enjoyed the view from her bed. Meanwhile at the guys side, Qrow and Ren were already asleep and Jaune was laying down on his bed thinking about the kiss he had received from Ruby.

 _"_ _Is this how Ruby really feels about me? This can never work. She is two years younger than me and if Qrow and Yang found out, I would be good as dead. Then again, she is turning 16 next week so I guess it can somewhat work. What am I thinking, I don't feel the same way she does… do I? I think of Ruby as a younger sister and not someone who I would be in a relationship with… I think. I need to stop thinking about this, this would never work and it shouldn't. I can't fall in love again, not after what happened to Pyrrha. If something similar happened to Ruby, what will happen to me?"_ Jaune fell asleep after a while, with this in his mind.

Jay was at the roof of the Inn looking down at the village that was in front of him.

"I can't. No matter what I think about… I can't stop seeing the image of Ash when I'm around Yang."

Jay looked at the clouded sky that was dropping snow on this village.

"What am I supposed to do… just what am I supposed to do?"

 **Here is another chapter for you all to enjoy. It seems that the love that is going around is getting really serious. Does that mean there won't be a chance for your favorite character to get a shot at love? NO! He or she will still have a chance of hooking up with the person if I feel that it would suit the situation. Will it happen? Who knows! Stay tuned! Also, the person who typed a review stating that Chapter 7 was going to be used in Guantamo Bay... it's Guantanamo bay and yes it was used!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Reborn

**Chapter 9 - Reborn**

"Jaune wake up… it's time to get ready. Ren said to the blonde who was still on his bed resting. He got up and prepared to get ready for the upcoming meeting that was about to begin on sunset. Both teams met in the rooftop to discuss the plan and go over it once more. Jay's task is to eliminate the soldiers that are keeping watch to allow Qrow and the others to enter the area. Once he has completed his task, Ruby, Yang, and Nora are going to stand outside and make sure that there will not be any enemies passing by. Qrow, Blake, Jaune, Ren, and Jay will enter the big cabin home once they are 100 percent sure that the people inside are the only ones responsible for the attack. Once they got the intel they need, they will force their way in and eliminate any enemy forces that are inside.

"I'm going to the location now and check if there isn't anything out of the ordinary there." Jay said as he got up and began walking towards the exit.

"I'm going with you." Yang said, approaching the student in blue.

"No you aren't. You're staying here with us Yang." Qrow said .

"He's right Yang. I can't have you come along when you have no idea how stealth works."

"But…"

"Listen… you don't have to worry. I'm going to back as soon as I can." Jay exited the rooftop and headed towards the location. The rest of the teams trained for a bit and got something to eat before they arrived to the meeting. After hours of waiting for Jay, he returned with information regarding the meeting.

"The meeting seems normal. There are about 15 White Fang soldiers and regular thugs surrounding the premises, but I can't say how many are inside the home. Eight of them are walking around the woods, the rest of them are standing outside the home. I can take out every one of them with no problem and should take me at least 30 minutes." Jay said.

"So the plan stays the same. We should get going then, I want to make sure there aren't any other people who will make a special appearance for this meeting." Qrow said. The teams grabbed their weapons and headed towards the woods. On their way over there, Jaune and Jay began to talk about their life stories. Jaune told him what had happened to Pyrrha and explained why he did what he did back in Beacon. Jay told him about his team and what became of them, however Jaune already knew this and acted as if it were the first time hearing it.

"The only way I can truly apologize is by giving you this." Jaune said. He pulled out a ring from his pocket and held it towards Jay.

"What's this?" Jay asked placing his hand underneath Jaune's hand.

"It's a ring. I got it at an old shop in Victorville."

"Victorville? I never told you this but my ancestors were once royalty and actually had a small kingdom there. My parents told me about it when I was seven before they passed away years later."

"What happened to your parents?"

"I rather not talk about it, but in any case you should keep the ring. I can't take something that belongs to you."

"But… it isn't mine. It's yours. The old shopkeeper told me that this ring was created by Victor Von Vanquisher centuries ago. This ring is rightfully yours." Jaune placed the ring on Jay's hand and began to put on the ring.

"The shopkeeper also told me that this ring would increase your strength, but when I tried testing it, it didn't even increase my strength."

"Well, I hope you didn't pay a lot for this ring." Jay and Jaune laughed at the comment together, even though Jaune did pay quite a hefty fee for the ring.

The teams finally reached their destination and took cover underneath the brush to avoid detection. There was a trail leading to the large home and along the trail, multiple people appeared. The first group consisted of 3 thugs and the one leading them was the infamous Roman Torchwick who was smoking a cigar. They entered the cabin and minutes later another group arrived to the scene. This group also consisted of thugs but more. The one leading the group had medium long hair that looked as if it were dyed using wine. He had scars all over his face, as if he were a torture survivor. He also wore a blood red unbuttoned trench coat with black stained Khakis. The group entered the building and later Adam had joined them with his soldiers.

"Alright, it seems as though that's everyone. Jay you're up." Qrow said.

"Alright… you ladies might want to look the other way around." Jay said as he got up from cover and slowly walked towards his first victim. Jay's blue aura was seen on his feet and with every foot step, there was absolutely no noise. As he got close, he quickly placed his hand over his victim's mouth to prevent him from calling help and sliced his neck. Jaune had place his hand over Ruby's eyes before the bloody scene had occurred. Yang and the others couldn't believe what they were witnessing.

"He doesn't have to kill them." Blake said.

"I know, but he has to do what he thinks what would be best." Qrow said. Jay continued his pattern for every person who was keeping watch till none were left standing. He signaled the others that the area was clear and they proceeded to move. Jay had begun moving the bodies to a secluded location so that they could not be found.

"Jay you didn't have to kill them." Blake said angrily.

"I can't risk any of them getting back up and calling for help. If something were to go wrong, all of you would be in danger." Blake simply stared at the student angrily and proceeded to join up with Qrow's team. Jaune still had his hand placed over Ruby's face which she was trying to remove without making a single noise. Jay had finally hidden all the bodies and Jaune released his hand from Ruby and gathered with Ren, Qrow, and Blake. They laid beside the window where they could still be able to listen to the conversation they were having.

"YOU'RE STILL KIDNAPPING PEOPLE!?" a familiar voice was heard yelling. A maniacal laughter was heard after the question was asked.

Of course. I got carried away with the last few, but the red head was a success. No applause needed, all I needed to do was some psychological torture and some physical torture of course." Rhett said.

"Adam! Why don't we simply get rid of this crazy psychopath and find a different person who knows how to do these things with at least some self-control." Rhett laughed at the man's comment about him.

"Unfortunately he is the only one who knows how to control aura and transfer aura onto different hosts." Adam said.

"I am the only one who can as far as I know and I come real cheap. Besides, if you continue to argue whether my way of doing these things are wrong, our sweet innocent princess Cinder would continue to absorb these Maiden powers and who knows what she would do to us after she gets them. Maybe give us a hug?"

"He is right though. It's only a matter of time till she disposes us if we no longer are needed. I suggest we use this Dark power that Rhett managed to get a hold of and put it on that girl that he mentioned. He did say it was a success and maybe we can use here to kill Cinder before she is able to retrieve the other Maiden powers."

"How do they know about the Dark?" Jaune asked Qrow.

"I don't know, but it seems they already have control over the 2nd one already. If they do manage to use it, it could cost a lot of lives. We need to get in there now." Right when they were about to go in, a woman in red with black hair was walking towards the front door of the home. The teams manage to hide before she was able to see them.

"What is she doing here?" Qrow asked. Cinder walked towards the door and blasted it open. Two of the soldiers charged at the woman, but she used her fireballs to scorch them.

"Who invited the princess?" Rhett said, staring at the princess.

"So all of you were planning to betray me were you?" Cinder said placing her hand towards the three.

"How the hell did you know we were here Cinder!?" Adam asked. He placed his hand on his katana, ready to unsheathe it at any given moment.

"Unfortunately for the three of you, there are still some who are loyal to me." Before Cinder could have finished the three off, the thugs who were still there in the same room attacked Cinder.

"Change in plans, we aren't killing them. We need them alive!" Qrow said.

"WAIT QROW!" Jaune yelled as his teacher went in the home. Both teams ran inside along with Qrow to join his side.

"It looks like we have more guests!" Rhett yelled as he hid underneath the table.

"NEO!" Torchwick yelled as the Neapolitan girl appeared to his side.

"SHE IS MINE!" Yelled Yang, as she ran towards the girl.

"YANG WAIT!" Jay yelled. Yang didn't listen and launched herself towards Neo who sent her back by swinging her umbrella like a bat.

"JAY! I'LL GET ADAM AND MAKE SURE TORCHWICK DOESN'T GET AWAY!" Jaune yelled.

"FINE!" Jay ran towards Torchwick to prevent him from leaving.

"JAUNE! MAKE SURE NOTHING HAPPENS TO YANG OR RUBY! I'M GOING FOR CINDER!" Qrow yelled as he transformed his greatsword to a scythe and headed outside where the woman tried to escape. Jay ran towards Torchwick who quickly blew a hole through the home and tried to make an immediate escape. Ren joined Yang and attacked Neo together, whereas Weiss and Nora took on the soldiers that were inside the home. Ruby joined Jaune and Blake to help fight Adam in the wide living room.

* * *

Teamwork

"Hello my darling. Care to introduce me to your friends?" Adam asked as he placed his hand on his weapon that was in its sheath.

"Surrender Adam! There is no way for you to escape." Blake said as she held on to Gambol Shroud.

"Sorry, but that's not going to happen darling." Adam unsheathed his weapon and had a red bladed katana. He ran towards the Faunus and swung his sword down on her, but was stopped by Jaune who had his sword drawn. Sparks were flying as their weapons were making contact and Ruby swung Crecent Rose at the unsuspecting Faunus. Adam took notice and back stepped to avoid the attack, but her weapon made contact and hit Adam across the shoulders. He maintained his footing from the attack and swung his katana again at Jaune who managed to stop it with his shield, leaving Adam defenseless. Adam kicked Jaune in the stomach and sheathed his katana, ready to unleash a barrage of attacks. He unsheathed it again and swung quickly at the blonde knight, but was stopped again by Ruby's scythe. Blake was in the back and began to shoot several shots from the distance at him. He was able overpower Ruby and slice the rounds in half, stopping them from hitting their mark. He focused all of his attention on Blake who was at a distance taking her aim at him. He quickly passed Jaune and Ruby who missed their attacks and unsheathed his katana to attack Blake. Blake pulled out her katana and stopped the incoming attack, but she was no match for the man's fast attacks. He managed to land several attacks on her and kick her away, causing her to slide across the room and begin to bleed out.

"BLAKE!" yelled Ruby and Jaune. Both attacked Adam at the same time, but Adam managed to avoid both attacks. He unsheathed his katana and blocked several hits from both Ruby and Jaune and back stepped away to sheathe his weapon.

"RUBY GET TO BLAKE AND HELP HER!" Jaune yelled, as his black aura begun to glow and transfer onto his sword.

"Jaune…" Ruby said silently as she ran back to Blake and watched what was transpiring.

"NOW!" Jaune yelled. He then slashed towards the direction of Adam and a crescent shaped black aura was sent flying. The attack managed to hit its mark, and Adam got down to one knee. This crescent dark aura causes the target to lose some of his or her aura and have minor physical damage, depending how large the attack was. In this case, it was a fairly sized attack.

"What the hell… was that?" Adam asked as he tried to get back to his feet. Jaune unleashed another and Adam unsheathed his katana midway and absorbed the attack. He sheathed his weapon and his aura began to glow red which startled Jaune. Adam ran towards Jaune unsheathed his sword and swung at the knight who had his shield up.

* * *

Qrow and Cinder

Cinder turned around and created a bow which she used to shoot an arrow towards Qrow's feet, causing the small area to explode. Qrow managed to roll out of the way and ran quickly towards Cinder. He swung his scythe, but Cinder managed to block his attack with her dual wielding obsidian glass blades. Qrow overpowered her and sent the woman sliding away. She conjured up explosions again from underneath Qrow's feet, but he knew she would do something like that again and managed to move out the way. From the debris, Cinder molded all of it together to create a giant pointed obsidian rock that was aimed at Qrow. Qrow transformed his scythe back to a greatsword and was ready for the attack to arrive. Cinder launched the glass rock towards Qrow, but with all his might, he managed to split the obsidian rock in two. Cinder did not stop there, she shot several fireballs at Qrow and unleashed more explosions underneath his feet, but Qrow continued to dodge the explosions and the fireballs but was seared slightly. He transformed his greatsword to its shotgun form and took several shots at Cinder, but Cinder hand no problem stopping the projectiles with her hands. Qrow reverted back to a scythe and sped his way to Cinder and swung his scythe at her. Cinder managed to stop the attack with her blades and now was in a tight spot. She needed a distraction that would drop Qrow's guard for at least a second so that she can make an immediate escape.

* * *

Bone Crushing

Jay ran towards the cigar smoking man and went for a devastating straight punch that was redirected by Neo's umbrella handle. She pulled his arm slightly making him completely miss. Torchwick aimed his cane at Jay's head, but as he was falling, he used the momentum to kick Torchwick's cane using the heel of his foot. Jay rolled to his feet and was ready to attack again. Yang and Ren joined the attack and went for Neo who focused on the two students. They both shot several rounds at Neo who simply used her umbrella to stop the incoming projectiles. Yang and Ren decided it would be best to try a different method and use their hand to hand combat skills. Although the both of them were skilled in it, Neo managed to avoid nearly all their attacks by redirecting their attacks at each other using the handle of her umbrella. Neo is very skillful when it comes to hand to hand combat and showed it by being able to stop the attack as well as strike back without trouble. Her umbrella revealed a sharp blade which managed to scratch Ren's cheek. Even in combat, the girl's grin never faded away and the look she had on her face made it seem as though she was enjoying the fight.

Jay ran towards the man who got his cane back. Torchwick aimed his cane towards Jay and shot several times, but his shots missed and Jay unleashed a powerful punch. Torchwick used his cane to block his attack, but the cane broke in half as the punch went through it and made its mark towards his chest. Torchwick was sent soaring to a tree from the force behind the punch. Jay was surprised by how powerful the attack was and couldn't figure out where that power came from. Neo saw what had happened and had no choice but to quickly take down the two she had in front of her. She teleported behind Ren and used him as a shield as she took aim at Yang using his Stormflower. Yang couldn't shoot at her and possibly hit Ren so she ended up getting hit with the rounds. Neo quickly let go of Ren and kicked him on the temple which knocked him out cold. She teleported behind Yang and used her umbrella's handle to trip Yang and make her fall to the floor. Yang couldn't see the attack coming and now that she was on the floor, Neo was able to get a hold of her arm. With a grin on her face, Neo broke Yang's arm and she let out a scream of pain.

"YANG!" yelled Jay who ran towards them.

"LET HER GO!" Jay pulled out his pistols and shot at the Neapolitan colored girl who simply used her umbrella to stop the projectiles. Neo smirked at the incoming attacker and placed her foot onto Yang's head. Jay immediately stopped and looked at the girl who had her high heels on Yang's head. Although she did not talk, it was clear to Jay that if he took another step, she would jam her high heels straight down to Yang's skull, possibly killing her.

"Stop it! It's just between you and me. You've already beaten her, you don't have to do this." Jay yelled. Neo looked down at Yang who was in pain from her broken arm and the heel pressing hard on her head and was smirking at the sight of her pain. She looked back at Jay and pressed harder on to Yang's head making her scream even more.

"STOP IT DAMMIT! I'LL LET YOU AND YOUR BOSS GO IF YOU LEAVE HER ALONE!" yelled Jay. She motioned him to throw his guns over to her. He followed her order and threw both pistols to her in which she picked both pistols up and pointed one of them at Yang's head.

"NOOOOO!" Jay yelled.

* * *

The Black Knight Returns

Adam's blade cut through Jaune's shield and struck him from the right side of his shoulder, all the way to his left ribs. Although the blade didn't split him two, the wound was enough to cause him to bleed a great deal of blood.

"JAUNE!" Ruby screamed. Without hesitation, she grabbed Crescent Rose and rushed towards the Faunus screaming in anger and not caring what would happen to her. She swung her weapon and missed the Faunus who ducked to avoid the attack. He unsheathed his katana and stabbed Ruby through her stomach.

"RUBY!" Jaune yelled as he reached his arm out towards her. Adam stared at the girl as she coughed blood out of her mouth and used his foot to push the girl away from his blade. Ruby fell to the floor and placed both hands on her wound to stop the bleeding. Jaune began to crawl towards the girl with all his might and as he was, Adam walked over to him and began to speak to him.

"This is what happens when you stupid humans try to get in my way. This is how I felt when you humans were trying to wipe us out from the face of Remnant. Do you know how it feels to witness someone close to you slowly die? What you are witnessing now is what I had to endure many years because of your kind, humans who looked down on us Faunus as if we were the same thing as Grimm!" Adam yelled. He walked back towards Ruby and unsheathed his katana.

"Don't… please… I-I'm… begging you." Jaune said as he reached out his bloody arm towards Adam. His blonde hair was stained with his own blood, his body, laid in his own pool of blood, but even with his wound, he still had the will power to raise his arm and try to move towards Adam and place his hand on the handle of his blade.

"You are going to feel what all of you humans will soon have to endure." Adam walked over to Ruby and held his katana pointed towards Ruby's heart.

"Jaune… help me." Ruby said. Jaune's eyes began to water and his body began to shiver. Time has stopped for him, the same scene played over and over his head and felt like a never ending loop that he would have to endure for the end of time.

 _"_ _Is this what my fate is? Is this what I am destined to witness over and over again? No matter how much I train, no matter how much effort I put in, I am still far too weak to save the people I care about and here I am now witnessing someone I love about to die before my eyes. I cannot bear the pain any longer, I cannot bear the burden of having someone else die to save me. I can't fight the temptations of the darkness any longer. If this power has the smallest chance of saving Ruby right now…then I will gladly LET…IT…TAKE…OVER!"_

Jaune let out a scream of anger that could be heard miles away. Adam, Neo, Cinder, and Qrow looked at the direction from where the scream came from. Jay quickly seized the opportunity to knock Neo off of Yang and Cinder took the opportunity and stabbed the unsuspecting man in the leg and run. Black aura came rushing out of Jaune causing the home to collapse and the people in it to be blown away by the shear strength of the black aura. The black aura surrounded Jaune as it violently flailed about. Everyone could only watch Jaune, unable to speak or move due to the fear that was coursing through their bodies. Jaune's left eye turned black and black veins were connected to his eye whereas his right eye turned golden yellow. His black aura had begun to manifest itself into its dark armor set. First the black mask, then the black knight armor and lastly, his Crocea Mors. Although the black aura had manifested to the armor set, he still had a large amount of it still violently flailing. Adam's body began to tremble as he saw the knight get off from his knees and onto his feet. The black aura had stopped flailing and had begun to calmly drift around his body.

"W…what are you?" Adam asked as he shakenly sheathed his katana.

"That my friend… is a kid who possesses the Dark power." Rhett said. He was blown towards the same area as Adam and slowly got onto one knee and avoided staring at the black knight who stood emotionless.

"Jaune?" Jay said. Jaune stared towards the direction of Ruby. Weiss and Nora were there helping to stop the bleeding that was spilling out of Blake and Ruby. Cinder hid from the area and was observing at what was transpiring. Neo knew she had to get out of there as soon as possible. She ran towards Torchwick in order to use her last remaining aura to teleport away, but was stopped half way by the knight who swung his sword across the Neapolitan colored girl who was sent soaring into the air and came crashing down. The cut was so deep that the chances of her coming out alive were close to zero. Torchwick who had just witnessed the attack, screamed out the girl's name and had caught the attention of the black knight.

"JAUNE STOP!" Jay yelled. Hoping to catch the knight's attention… it worked. The black knight turned to the direction of Jay and stared at the student. Jay was still on his knees next to Yang who was heavily damaged during the fight. Jaune ran towards him and in seconds he was already in front of him, swinging his sword towards the boy's neck. The blade went through the student's neck as if it were a ghost without a solid body. Jay quickly got to his feet and punched the knight with all his strength away from him. The knight went flying towards a tree, but got up without a dent.

"ROMAN! Get Neo and get out from here!" Jay threw roman a see through flask full of aura.

"Tell Neo to drink this and it should completely heal her wounds no matter how devastating they may be!" Torchwick didn't ask questions and did what he was told. However, the black knight wouldn't allow it and charged towards the cigar smoking man. Jay predicted this and accurately placed an air punch that made contact with the speedy knight and sent him hurling away. Roman made it to Neo and gave her the flask to drink. She drunk the flask and her aura had begun to glow. Her horrific injury had begun to heal and in seconds her wound had become not as severe, enabling her to teleport herself and Torchwick out of there. Adam saw the opportunity to run and took it, but Jaune had already sensed this and sped towards the Faunus. Adam saw the incoming attack and unsheathed his katana, allowing him to be able to block the attack that could have killed him. Jaune overpowered Adam and completed his swing, sending Adam sliding towards a boulder. Adam got back to his feet and saw 6 black orbs coming towards him. Four of the orbs managed to hit him and this not only caused damage to his body, but some of his aura was depleted. Jaune then sent a very large crescent wave of black aura towards Adam which allowed him to absorb the attack with his katana. Adam's aura glowed red to the point of it sputtering around his body and ran toward the black knight with swift speed. Adam unsheathed his katana once he was in front of Jaune and swung it diagonally, hoping to slice the Dark power wielder in two. However, the knight managed to avoid the attack by back stepping, and Adam's attack only managed to slice off Jaune's mask. Jaune impaled his sword in Adam's ribs which caused the Faunus to quickly remove himself from Jaune's sword and back away. Although the injury was severe, he used what little aura he had left to heal the wound to reduce the damage. He quickly unsheathed his sword and went ahead and continued his barrage of attacks at Jaune.

As the fight progressed, Qrow saw his injured niece and took the opportunity to limp towards her. Jay decided to use this time to get Yang and take her to the others that were gathered. Yang had passed out from the pain so Jay had no choice but to pick her up and take her to the others.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YANG!?" Weiss demanded to know, but had no time to explain as he still needed to go get Ren. Qrow had finally arrived towards the group and was shocked to see Ruby and Yang lay emotionless on the floor.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM!? Qrow yelled as tears ran down his face.

"I-I don't know. When I looked over here, Ruby and Blake were already on the floor bleeding out and Jay… Jay had just passed by and dropped off Yang." Weiss said as she tried to control her emotions. Qrow got to his knees and gently picked up Ruby's head, trying desperately to wake her up. He saw the wound on her belly and had begun to press on it to stop the bleeding.

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP KID! DON'T LET THIS SMALL CUT GET TO YOU! PLEASE!" Qrow screamed. Jay came back with Ren and placed him on the ground next to Nora who then quickly looked at his condition.

"YOU! WHAT DID YOU DO TO YANG!?" Qrow yelled, as he gently placed her back down. Qrow grabbed Jay and threw him to the ground and began choking him out of anger. Qrow had stop thinking and had his emotion take the best of him. Jay tried to explain to Qrow what had happened, but Qrow's hand held tightly on Jay's neck. Qrow had his knees on Jay's hand to prevent him from hitting him or try to push him off.

"QROW! LET JAY GO!" Weiss yelled, trying to get the man to let his grip go.

"QROW! LISTEN TO US!" Nora screamed. The black knight looked at their direction, but took a hit from Adam who managed to cut through the knight's armor slightly. Their battle continued to rage on and Rhett saw the opportunity to escape this battlefield and avoid being captured or likely killed.

"Jay? Interesting." Rhett said. He ran to the woods and disappeared into the brush. Jay had begun to lose his eye sight and had begun to slowly pass out. He slowly stopped struggling but suddenly someone kicks Qrow off of him and grabs hold of Jay by the arms. It was Neo who teleported back to the battlefield and in an instant, had disappeared along with Jay in her arms. Qrow was dazed and looked around for the person who had kicked him, but saw no one and noticed that Jay was gone too.

"WHERE IS HE!?" Yelled Qrow as he slowly got up and continued to look around. From the corner of his eye, he saw a group of Beowolfs emerge from the woods. He turned around and then noticed that they were all surrounded by the creatures of Grimm. Jaune and Adam looked around them and saw the creatures emerge, as well as notice a Nevermore flying above their head.

"If I don't get out of here… I am going to die." Adam said. He sheathed his Katana and decided to run towards a group of Beowolfs. He unsheathed his katana and sliced through the creatures and got away. Jaune paid no attention to Adam and focused his attention towards the creatures of Grimm. He let out a loud growl and dropped his sword onto the floor, as he did that he absorbed the black aura that still lingered around his body and used it to enhance his speed. He ran towards the big Ursa and clamped his hand on its head, absorbing the Ursa till it disappeared. He continued this pattern to every creature that he laid his eyes on. Qrow was witnessing what was going on, but he ignored it and only paid attention to his niece who was dying. He placed his head on the ground and begun punching the floor in anger.

"DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"

"Uncle Qrow?" A voice was heard from the side of his ear and looked to see what it was. It was Ruby who had a slight smile on her face. Qrow looked at the deep wound she had and it was gone. Qrow held the young girl in his arms tightly and had begun to tear up even more.

"Why are you crying… uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.

"I… I had something in my eyes kid." Weiss managed to stop Blake's wounds from continuing to bleed and had bandaged her up. Ren had awoken from the kick to the head and had begun asking questions of what had happened. They all looked towards the knight who stood in front of the Nevermore that crashed to the ground after being attacked by the black knight. He was removing his blade from the Grimm's head and it slowly dissolved. The knight turned around and stared at the rest of the creatures of Grimm. The creatures slowly backed away from the knight. Jaune however didn't allow it. He sliced through the creatures and decapitated many of them as they attempted to escape his wrath. After he had wiped out the remaining creatures, he looked back at the group with his sword drawn. Ruby slowly rose up to her feet and looked at the black knight without fear in her eyes.

* * *

The Black Flame Caster and The Angel of Death

"JAUNE! You need to stop this right now!" Ruby yelled. The black knight kept her eyes on her, but didn't lower his sword.

"Jaune! I'm fine! There's no need for you to continue doing this! You can stop now." She slowly walked towards the black knight, but then he sped towards her with the intent to kill. He swung his sword, but it was stopped by Qrow's greatsword. Although, Qrow's leg was injured he still had the willpower to stop him from killing his niece. The two held their position and from the corner of their eye, a large fireball came hurling towards them. Qrow got out the way, but the black knight stood there and the attack made contact. The black knight was scorched by the flame and flew through a boulder, causing it to shatter into small pieces and landed against a tree. From the dark forest came Cinder who took the opportunity to take out the black knight. Jaune was at a sitting position dazed by the attack that managed to penetrate his armor. His eyes stared at the red dressed woman who sped towards him and placed her hand near the knight's face. A bug came crawling out from the middle of her hand and was about to stick itself to Jaune's face. In a quick motion, Jaune had his hand on her face and the two had begun absorbing each other's power. The area had begun radiate a bright light, Jaune's Dark aura had begun to flicker from white and dark wildly. Cinder's aura had begun to do the same, however hers was red and black. A force pushed them both apart and Cinder went gliding towards the collapse house, while Jaune had flown further into the woods.

"JAUNE!" yelled Ruby. A minute passed and the group saw the black golden eyed boy come out of the woods. A flailing black aura had pushed the debris out of Cinder's way and there she stood on both feet. On one arm, she had the orange bright sigils glowing intensely, on the other she had black sigils and black veins were leading towards the right side of her eye. She hovered over and created black fireballs in her hands as she was ready to attack the black knight.

"We need to get out of here right now." Qrow said silently to the other, trying to avoid Cinder from hearing them.

"No, I am not going without Jaune." Ruby said.

"No we are leaving now. If we stay here, we are going to die and the last thing that Jaune would ever want… is that." Qrow grabbed Ruby and Yang and told Ren to help carry Blake. Ruby struggled to get off, but Qrow wouldn't allow it and they all slowly disappeared to the woods.

"JAUNE! JAUNE!" Ruby yelled as she was taken away by her uncle. Cinder noticed this, but she didn't care. All she cared about now was her opponent who stood in front of her. Jaune's black aura had returned, stronger than ever and had manifested back to its original black armor set and mask. His eye returned to its golden state and the veins reduced in length, only reaching his cheeks. Cinder looked at the boy and saw a shadow appear behind him. The moonlight that shined toward the boy revealed a shadow of him with wings, wings that would resemble that of an angel of death. The wings were merely a shadow without a solid form and this intimated the dark pyromancer. Jaune had managed to regain consciousness and realized what had happened.

 _"_ _So…that's what happened. Whatever aura I obtained from that woman allowed me to regain control over my body and mind. This… is perfect."_

"Cinder… this is where it ends for you." Jaune pulled out Crocea Mors and had begun to transfer large amounts of power in it. Cinder had begun to hold a large black flame that would sure burn this whole area to the ground.

"Sorry, but the only thing that will end… is you Jaune."

 **Alright this took me a while to make and after you read it you might see why it did arrive so late or you might not see it. Either way I enjoyed making today's chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Also, apparently someone says that I have been focusing too much on OC, well after reading this chapter, some might still think so while the others might say otherwise. If I do focus a little too much on Jay, it is for a reason. I also added a new character that is possibly be cheap, but I still hope you welcome him with open arms... well not really.**


	10. Chapter 10 - To Be or Not To Be

**Chapter 10 – To Be or Not To Be?**

Cinder quickly launched a massive black fireball towards the black knight, but Jaune had his powerful charged attack and swung it towards her. Both attacks collided causing a massive explosion that caused the surrounding trees to be blown away and was visible to every person from a 10 mile radius. Smoke surrounded the forest, as if there were a thick black mist that would make any other person blind. However, both Jaune and Cinder can sense each other's presence and had no problem tracking each other down. Cinder created her black glass shards and hurled them towards Jaune. Jaune quickly placed his hand forward creating a black hole that swallowed the attack. Jaune opened the black hole again and it hurled the shards back towards Cinder, but Cinder regained the control of the shards that were sent back and created larger shards. She hurled the large shards at Jaune from both sides thinking that it would be impossible for Jaune to use his semblance. Jaune threw Crocea Mors to the ground and stretched his arms to the side and used his semblance on both sides causing two large black holes to appear. It absorbed both attacks and Jaune quickly picked up Crocea Mors to prevent Cinder from attacking in the front. Cinder conjured up both of her blades that was imbued with black flames and rushed towards Jaune. Jaune placed his hand on Crocea Mors and spread his black aura around it. Jaune's sword was now imbued with dark power and enhanced his sword's damage. Cinder launched multiple fast attacks that were easily blocked by the black knight. He back stepped after pushing Cinder back with his blade and used his semblance to unleash the large shards that he had absorbed from the abyss earlier. His attack hit its target and Cinder was sent sliding away on her back. Jaune charged towards the woman, not allowing her to recover from the attack and launched multiple Dark balls of energy towards her. She saw the attack coming, but couldn't do anything to stop it. The massive energy exploded, dark mists had begun to spread the forest. Jaune looked down at the woman who laid unconscious and went down on one knee, ready to absorb the power he had lost. Cinder grinned and surprised Jaune with a black flame attack that was summoned beneath him. He had no time to dodge it and was struck causing him to catch on fire. He took a giant leap back to create a gap between them to recover. He released his black armor and transformed back to his normal self, in order to stop the flames from spreading.

"So it seems like I have the advantage." Cinder said, grinning at the blonde.

"So it may, but don't let that make you think you WON!" Jaune yelled. He held his sword tightly on his hand and was prepared for any attack may come towards him. Cinder conjured up her bow and arrows dipped in black flames and sent them flying towards the boy. The boy smiled and managed to destroy the multiple arrows she had sent and rolled to the right to avoid the black flame eruption that was summoned beneath him. Jaune sent multiple black energy orbs towards Cinder and she managed to stop the attack with her arrows. He charged towards the woman, slicing every black flame arrow that was shot at him. Cinder ducked at the sword attack and used her black flame to hit the golden eyed boy. Jaune noticed this and kicked her in the arm in order to divert the black flame elsewhere.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Cinder yelled as the student went sliding away. Out of rage, she used her remaining energy to unleash a massive black fire blast that covered a wide radius, making it impossible to avoid.

"TRY AVOIDING THIS!" Cinder released the attack and as the attack was coming, Jaune had to come up with something fast.

 _"_ _If I don't do something quick…the whole forest, the village, everything will be incinerated. I have no choice but to…"_

Jaune hastily gathered all his remaining dark power and unleashed a massive black hole that ripped opened the ground that surrounded him, causing the flames to be sucked into the abyss. Jaune's small area of land remained as it allowed him to continue expanding the black hole. The fire circled around Jaune as it slowly got sucked into the abyss. Jaune's eyes and nose had begun to bleed and an excruciating pain was felt all around his body. After using all the energy he had left, Jaune collapsed to the ground coughing up blood. Cinder too collapsed to the ground after the attack and could not move. Jaune overcoming the pain surrounding his body got back to his feet and limped his way towards her.

Cinder had begun to laugh maniacally at the boy who limped towards her. Although she had no energy left, she still was able to laugh at the student who was going to end her life.

"Do you really think this is all over? Do you really think by killing me everything evil in the world is going to stop? Does killing me, bring back the people I have killed? No sweetie it doesn't! This cycle will continue with someone else will take my place and it will never end!"

Jaune arrived and stood beside her. He looked down at the woman who lay on the ground in a torn up dress. His golden eyes filled with emptiness, not knowing what to say or what to do.

"This disgusting cycle will continue and you yourself will one day vanish and when you do, someone else will take your place! So do it! KILL ME!" Jaune lifted Crocea Mors and aimed it towards her heart. He lifted the sword higher, gaining momentum so that his sword will go right through. The blade came falling down and pierced…

Sorry for the short chapter. I want to give the readers another choice on what should Jaune do. This time I will tell you what would happen if Jaune chooses one over the other.

 **CHOICE** **A:** **You kill Cinder and Jaune will be going to the path of vengeance. This means that Jaune will most likely distant himself from his friends and could possibly end up later killing or harming them in some way which could lead him to be the thing he promised to defeat. Will this mean that there won't be a possibility of him getting shipped with someone? The possibility of him having a significant someone will be VERY close to zero. Does that mean he will finally kill Jay who is the worst character you can add in the story? uhhh... possibly?**

 **CHOICE B: You don't kill Cinder and Jaune will give up the idea of vengeance. Cinder will end up in a cell, but could possibly one day escape. However, Jaune will not distant himself from his friends and the chance of him going evil will diminish significantly. Does that mean there won't be anymore chapters? There still will be more chapters. Does that mean that Jaune will become a wimp? No he is still going to be badass. Does that mean the future chapters are going to be boring? I hope not, I still have plenty of ideas that I consider to be entertaining. Does that mean Jaune won't kill Jay who is the worst character that you can possibly add onto the story? uhh... maybe?**


	11. Chapter 11 - The Unthinkable

**Chapter 11 – The Unthinkable**

The blade came crashing down and pierced Cinder's stomach. Cinder screamed in pain as the knight leaned over to her and had begun to speak next to her ear.

"If Pyrrha were to see me now, there is no doubt that she would not want me to do this… but I can never forgive you for what you have done to me… and to the school." Cinder stared at the boy's eye in fear as she undoubtedly knew that her death was imminent.

"I'm taking back what is rightfully mine and I will make sure that every single person responsible for the attack at my school will suffer the consequences." Jaune said. He slammed his hand on Cinder's face and begun to absorb the power she had taken from him prior from the battle. Cinder screamed in pain as her powers were absorbed by the black knight, leaving nothing left in her body. Jaune got back to his feet and stared emptily at the woman whose lay emotionless on the floor.

 _"_ _So absorbing every ounce of her aura caused her to die huh? It doesn't matter. She got what was coming for her and now all that's left is the other three."_ Jaune thought. Immediately after, a massive pain surged through his body and mind. He collapsed to one knee and begun to yell in pain. Both eyes returned to its black state and his black aura surrounded his body as it was about to form his black knight armor.

"No… I am not letting this takeover. Not yet… I… I still have to…" Jaune struggled to regain consciousness and wouldn't let the Dark overpower him. He got back to his feet and managed to get back his senses. His eyes remained like Cinder's and he conjured up the black flames he had consumed from her.

"This trick will be very useful." Jaune said. He walked over to the dead body and used his semblance to swallow the body into the black void.

"This is easier than carrying that sorry excuse for a human being." Jaune took one last look at the destroyed area and left towards to the village to meet up with the others.

* * *

Reunion

"JAUNE!" Ruby yelled as she ran towards the knight's arms and embraced him tightly. The others were surprised that he was alive and wanted to know what happened to Cinder.

"What happened to Cinder?" Qrow asked as he stared at the boy.

"I… I killed her."

"You what? I thought the plan was not to kill her Jaune!" Blake said angrily.

"We could have gotten information out of her about where the others may be!"

"You think I didn't know that? It was kill or be killed!" Jaune yelled as he glared at the Faunus.

"Alright calm down. The last thing we need is to turn on ourselves for a stupid thing like this. Jaune is right, he could have died if he only tried to subdue her." Weiss said.

"Damn it! What are we supposed to do now?" Blake said.

"We'll locate Jay and we'll force him to tell us why he helped Torchwick and that girl Neo." Jaune said.

"You remember what happened when you went berserk?" Ren asked.

"Yes I did… I'm sorry for what I was about to do Ruby. I couldn't control myself." Jaune said to the girl who still held Jaune.

"No need to apologize. I believe whatever you say. You did save me when I was bleeding out."

"Saved you?"

"Yeah! The ring you gave me managed to heal me when my aura was completely used up." Ruby said, hugging the boy tighter.

"I see… well can you let go? I'm kind of losing air here."

"Nope."

"In any case, my first priority is to retrieve the body and bring it to the authorities. All of you can return back to the Atlas port where our ride to Beacon will be. I am going back to the woods." Qrow said as he begun to walk towards the battlefield's direction.

"There's no need. I have the body with me." Jaune said.

"What do you mean with you?" Ren asked.

"I discovered my semblance back in the fight. It allows me to create a black hole that can consume anything that comes near it, as long as it's smaller or similar in size."

"AWESOME!" Nora yelled.

"CAN I SEE IT HUH!?"

"No Nora you can't. Maybe if we spar or go into a different fight you will." Jaune said.

"Aw."

"Hey by the way… what's wrong with Yang?" Jaune looked at the direction where Yang was. She was staring at the Moon with an arm sling holding her broken arm which was caused by Neo.

"She is upset about the whole Jay problem thing." Ren said.

"She doesn't want to believe the possibility of Jay actually working for Torchwick. That could be hard to believe, I mean he did save Yang." Nora said, looking at the same direction. Jaune tried to think of a reason why Jay would do something like that. Could he possibly be working for Torchwick? He lost his team because of the attack on the school and if he did want revenge just like Jaune, he would have allowed them to die. At the moment, Jaune couldn't think of any possibilities and had to move on without him.

"It doesn't matter. Right now we need to focus on going back home and try to get some rest. If he is working for them, he should have something back in his dorm room that could possibly lead us to him." Jaune said.

"Alright I guess that should be a start. If we can find him, we can find the others." Blake said. Qrow walked over to the yellow haired girl who was depressed about the whole situation.

"Let's go Yang… We're going home." Qrow said. Both teams walked back to Atlas to return home and as they were walking, a mysterious person watched them leave. The person wore a white mask that resembled that of a creature of Grimm and had black hair. She unsheathed her weapon which looked similar to that of Adam and slashed through the air, creating a black portal which she walked in and disappeared.

* * *

A New Relationship

Jaune and everyone arrived back at school and returned to their daily routines. Jaune gave the dead body to Ironwood in Ozpin's office, which was then exported by Ironwood and his men back to his ship to Atlas. Once Ironwood left, Ozpin and Jaune had begun to discuss what should their next move be, considering that Jaune just took down one of the people they have been looking for many months.

"Jaune, you didn't have to kill Cinder. She could've had information about a person we are interested in looking for." Ozpin said.

"It was kill or be killed Professor Ozpin. I have a feeling that you of all people would have a good idea how strong Cinder is." Jaune said.

"I understand. I also have to inform you about something that we were… still keeping secret from you."

"Why are you still holding secrets from me? I thought you trusted me when you told me everything I need to know about the Dark and the stories behind it. What else are you keeping from me Professor?" Jaune asked, his serious tone signaled that the boy was agitated.

"We have been keeping a woman named Amber here secretly from everyone else other than James, Glynda, and Qrow. The reason for this is because she is the Fall Maiden."

"Why would you keep something like this from me? I could have used her help against Cinder and the other criminals who were at the meeting! If I would have had her in my side, Ruby and the rest of the teams wouldn't have had to go through all that torture from battling! Not only that, but we could have used her help during the attack on Beacon!"

"I understand your frustration, but she had some of her Maiden powers taken by Cinder before you were accepted to Beacon which caused her to be in a coma for a quite a while. When you killed Cinder, the Maiden powers returned to its original owner, meaning that Amber was able to be revived again and be at her full strength." Right after Ozpin said this, Amber came out of the elevator and saw the two talking to each other.

"I have to thank you for killing that woman for me. If it weren't for you, I would still be stuck in that Cryo Pod." Amber said, as she walked closer to the blonde knight.

"There is no need to thank m…" Jaune was interrupted by a kiss from Amber who seemed to have enjoyed the short kiss which made it seem for hours.

"You could have waited until you left my office you know." Qrow said, covering his eyes from the two.

"You didn't really have to do that. Simple thanks would have been nice." Jaune said as he looked at the girl's eyes.

"Well I thought that a kiss was a better way to thank you, considering that you risked your life to stop the woman who nearly killed me."

"Well I didn't know she had your powers. I merely fought her for the purpose of getting back to her for what she did to the school and to my teammate."

"I'm sure if you knew what had happened to me, you would have still done the same thing."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Jaune said. He turned back around and told Ozpin about his next course of action. He intends to investigate the whereabouts of Jay. If he can find Jay, he could lead him to Torchwick, which could then lead him to Adam and Rhett.

"I am going to need you to take it easy for a while Jaune. You did an excellent job with Qrow, but I am going to need you to investigate some things around Vale." Qrow said, sipping his coffee mug.

"I don't have time for small jobs Professor Ozpin, I need to quickly find Torchwick and the others and bring them to Justice." Jaune said, insisting that he continues his search for the dangerous criminals.

"But these aren't just any ordinary cases. These cases involve kidnappings in and outside of the school. While you were gone there were a few kidnappings that took place. However, the bodies haven't been found, unlike the kidnappings prior to the attack on school."

"I've heard about these kidnappings in the news as of late. Apparently these kidnapping have been happening ever since my first month at Beacon."

"That's right. The bodies that were found prior to the attack had scars and bruises, as if they were subject to torture prior to their deaths." Ozpin said

"Rhett… I recall Qrow telling me about the possibility of Rhett being the person who could be responsible for these kidnappings."

"Correct. However, I do not believe Rhett himself is kidnapping these people. He most likely has people working under him to perform these atrocious acts. I want you to figure out whether or not he is behind these acts and find anything that could trace him to his whereabouts."

"Okay… I'll do it. If I find anything important, I will be sure to tell you first."

"One more thing, since you really wanted Amber to come along with you at the meeting, I will be assigning her as your teammate on this case. You two will have more time to get to know each other personally and hopefully the both of you can form a friendly relationship." Ozpin said as he turned to the window to stare at the scenery.

"Sounds like a fun idea." Amber said smiling at the professor and Jaune.

"Yeah… sounds great." Jaune said, sarcastically. The two were dismissed and exchanged information to advice each other when they should begin their assignment. They said their goodbyes and left to their rooms.

* * *

Voice

A week has passed since the battle and Ruby's 16th birthday had arrived. Everyone gathered around her as she was ready to blow her candles. Jaune, Ren, Nora, Blake, Weiss, and even Zwei gathered around her as they wished her a happy birthday. However, one was missing in the gathering. It was Yang who had left before the teams had begun to sing to the birthday girl. She went to JADE's dorm room to find anything that could somehow lead to Jay's whereabouts. She looked high and low, but couldn't find anything other than pictures of him and Ash together.

"Is that her sister?" Yang asked as she flipped through a picture book that Ash had underneath her mattress. She came across a picture that had Jay's arms holding Ash in a pose that made them seem like a couple. Yang's eyes turned red and continued to flip through the pictures causing some of them to rip. She threw the book across the room and had begun to tear up at the thought of Jay already being in a relationship.

"If I would have known that he was with someone, I wouldn't have kissed him in the first place." Yang said as she looked at the ceiling with sadness in her eyes. She walked over to Jay's bed and broke a photo frame of him holding his pistols. Yang noticed a small piece of paper fall out of the frame which contained coordinates. The coordinates wasn't far from here and is only a 20 minute walk from school. She grabbed her bag and left to the destination, not telling anyone where she was heading.

"Hey Jaune." Blake asked.

"What's up?"

"Have you seen Yang? I haven't seen her for a while now. She is going to miss Ruby opening her presents."

"I haven't seen her. I can use my aura to locate her though. Give me a few minutes." Jaune said. During the week, he had practiced on sensing other people's aura and he could easily tell what kind of aura each of his friend's had. He managed to pick up Yang's aura after a few minutes and told Blake.

"She isn't too far from here. If you want, I can go get her."

"Please do. The last thing Ruby wants his for her sister to not be here." Jaune walked out of the room and headed towards Yang's prior location. Once he ended up in JADE's dorm room, Jaune called out for Yang, but there was no response. He looked around to find a broken picture frame and a picture book across the floor. Jaune could only guess that Yang found out about Ash. He sat on the bed and again tried to locate her. While he was doing this, Yang found an old abandoned shack in the woods which scared her a bit. She walked inside and found nothing that could trace back to Jay. She stomped her foot to the ground in anger and busted a hole underneath her and found stairs leading down. She pulled out her phone and activated it's flashlight to light up the way leading down. Once she reached the bottom, she found a light switch on the side and flicked it on. Sets of lights turned on and revealed a very wide room that looked like a garage. On the corner of her eye she found bookcases filled with tons of books that looked very old. She looked across the room and found a working bench. On the working bench was an electronic scroll which she turned on. The scroll revealed a map of Vale and surrounding areas which gave her more questions than answers. She looked underneath the bench and found a silver box with sigils surrounding it. She attempted to open the box with one arm and caused an electric shock which caused Yang to drop it to the ground.

"What the hell was that?!" Yang yelled as she shook her arm. She picked the box back up and placed it into her backpack. She looked back at the scroll and went through its contents, hoping to find something else interesting. She found several voice recordings inside the scroll and decided to play the oldest one to see what they were about.

 _"_ _Okay I hope this recording sounds better than my old voice recorder. Anyways, today is July 28? I think… I don't know somewhere around there. The point is that Ash and I have finally been accepted to Beacon and they couldn't say no to a person like me who is very skilled in hand to hand combat. Considering that I was ranked highest in my school shouldn't really be a surprise now does it. Ash on the other hand specializes in weaponry and I have something in mind to give her for her birthday. It's still a work in progress, but I'm sure it's going to be very useful to her, considering that I am going to make it unique to any other weapon out in the world. I uhh still haven't managed to ask her out on a date yet. I know… I should have already asked her, but I am going to wait till I give her the weapon as a present in a few months and then ask her out. I really do hope she says yes. JAMES! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR THE AIRSHIP TO BEACON! Oh damn… I'M COMING!_ ***Recording end***

"This was from months ago." Yang said. She was about to press the next recording, but then heard footsteps coming down.

"Yang?! Are you in here!?" Jaune yelled as he saw the yellow haired girl standing in front of the workbench.

"Hey what are you doing here? And what is this place?" Jaune asked as he looked around the place.

"First off, how did you find me!?" asked Yang.

"Well I learned how to sense people from a mile away using my Dark aura. I already have a good idea on how your aura is so it wasn't that hard to find you."

"Oh…I… I found coordinates from Jay's room and it led me here."

"Do you have any idea what this place could be Yang?" Jaune continued to look around and went through a couple of the books that were in the shelf.

"I can only guess that it's some sort of workshop that apparently belongs to Jay."

"What makes you think that it belongs to Jay?" Jaune asked.

"I have a hunch." They both continued to look around and tried to find anything that could determine Jay's location, but nothing came up.

"All I found was books, stories, and words that I don't even think are considered a language. Let's get out of here and get back to the party. Your sister is waiting for you Yang." Jaune said as he held out his arm to her.

"Yeah… I guess you're right." She was looking through a box that had a tape recorder with a single tape in it. She grabbed Jaune's hand to lift herself back to her feet and both left the old shack, making sure that the floor was concealed.

The night ended with everyone having a great time and went their separate ways. Yang and the rest of her team immediately went straight for their beds. Yang placed her bag next to her to make sure it doesn't leave her sight. She doesn't know what she is going to do with the silver box, but she intends to listen to the recordings Jay had left when she's by herself.

 **You're all probably wondering why I made the decision for the chapter to be a mix of both choice A and B. Well, originally choice B had won by one vote. However, multiple users voted for choice A at the same hour. I found this quite suspicious so I did a little investigating and as it turns out, the accounts were created around the same hour. Coincidence? No, too convenient. I decided to go with both choice A and B. You might not like my decision, but if the accounts were indeed created by the same person, the total votes for each choice would have been a tie. So this would be the only decision I can make to please both sides. I hope you enjoyed the chapter nonetheless and I hope you stick around. If this displeased you in any way and you no longer care about any future chapters, I hope you had enjoyed your stay!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Questions

**Chapter 12 – Questions**

A few days passed and the days were not quite nice to the teams. They had large amounts of homework that had to be done due to their absences. All they can do now is return back to the schedule and maintain their grades in the school. When the classes ended for the day, Yang returned to her room to finally listen to the other recording of the scroll Jay had left in his workshop. That was all she could ever think about in class, the scroll. This made it hard for her to concentrate in class which caused her scores to drop steadily. Her friends had become worried about her and spent more time with her than they should have. This made it more difficult for Yang to listen to the recordings alone in her room, let alone anywhere in the school when her team is following her around.

 ***RECORDING START…***

 _"_ _Alright, today is August 9_ _th_ _and my team is currently asleep, or at least I hope they are. Do you have any idea how weird it would be if they see or even hear me talking to a scroll? Well, yea I have my own team now. I was very surprised that I was named the leader and not Dustin since he seems a lot more intelligent than I am. I even went to Ozpin's office to ask him to change his mind and choose Dustin, but he insisted that I remained as the leader. I never led anything in my life, let alone a team. I always preferred to work alone, but when Ash came into the picture, alone wasn't really an option anymore and also… Ash is in my team. How exciting is that? To have a girl who I really like in the same team! Anyways, Ash and I arrived to Beacon about a week ago and saw something really funny on the way here. A guy was puking during the flight to the school. At the worst time possible I might add. Ash and I were having a moment when vomit boy came from out of nowhere and blew passed through us. I can't believe that happened. COULDN'T HE WAIT FOR A COUPLE OF MORE SECONDS!? …Other than that, I found this old shack not too far from here. I plan on making that my own secret personal workshop to work on Ash's birthday gift and also add the finishing touches on my tactical knife that I have been working on for several months. Why make my workshop a secret you ask? Well, there are some things that need to remain secret this is one of those things... I still have a little more aura in me so I guess I can continue working on the Contender."_

 ***RECORDING END…***

"What are you listening to sis?" Ruby asked as she walked towards her older sister.

"Ummm… ELO." Yang said, as she put away the scroll in her bag.

"ELO? Never heard of them. Can I listen?" Ruby walked towards the girl not waiting for her response.

"NO! If you never heard of them then you should go listen to them on your own spare time. I'm currently enjoying myself in the wonderful world of music."

"Aw… don't be like that."

"Sorry." Yang said. Ruby proceeded to leave the room and walk towards JNR's dorm room. On her way over there, she stumbled upon Ren and Nora who were on their way towards their room. They talked about how their day was going since class ended a few hours ago and had homework to work on. They conversed for a bit and headed toward the room and as they opened the door they heard an unfamiliar voice coming out of the other end. They opened the door and saw Jaune and Amber conversing together in a manner that seemed like they were very close.

"Hey guys I'd like you to meet Amber." Jaune said as he stepped aside to allow Amber to shake each of their hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I was very eager to meet Jaune's team for a while now." Amber said with a smile on her face.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Ren and this is my teammate Nora." Ren said.

"Any friend to Jaune is a friend to mine!" Nora said loudly, hugging the woman tightly.

"It's… nice to meet you too." Ruby said as she held her hand out hesitantly. Amber shook her hand and returned to Jaune's side.

"So uhh… why is she here?" Ruby asked in an aggressive tone as she got closer to the white knight.

"I am uh… helping her with some classwork and some combat training today so she came by to get me." Jaune said, trying to avoid telling his team the real truth.

"That's right. I wanted him to help me train a bit today since I have been slacking off in a small area of my combat skills that Jaune seems to excel in." Amber said as she placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder. This made Ruby more jealous than she already was and decided to grab Jaune's arm and pull him towards her.

"Sorry but I already told Jaune that we are going to go out and eat with our teams." Ruby said, puffing her left cheek.

"Ruby, I know I promised that we were going out today, but this is really important for her and it's the least I can do for her since she helped me with a subject that was stuck on."

"So you're telling me that you two have been hanging out for a while now?" Ruby asked. Ren noticed what was going on and decided to slowly back away from the three along with Nora.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get your girlfriend upset Jaune. The training can wait after your date." Amber said as she walked towards the door.

"Girlfriend!? She isn't my girlfriend and we aren't even going on a date." Jaune exclaimed, surprised by the statement. Although Jaune remembers the kiss he and Ruby shared, he tried to block the memory out of his mind and tried to avoid Ruby for a while now. Jaune didn't notice that Ruby had tears building up and she quickly ran out the door before Amber could even reach it.

"Oh Jaune… why did you have to go and say that?" Nora said, crossing her arms.

"What do you mean? What did I do?" Jaune asked as he tried to determine why Ruby ran off like that.

"Amber… I think it would be best if you let us alone for a while. There is something I want to talk to Jaune about." Ren said.

"Yeah, sure… no problem." She proceeded to exit the room and the three teammates were left to converse about what just happened.

"Jaune… do you know what you just did?" Ren asked.

"No I don't. What did I do?"

"You caused Ruby to tear up and leave with a broken heart." Nora said.

"Wait… why would she get sad? Is it something that I said?"

"There are still some things you need to learn about a women's heart." Ren said to the blonde.

"I have enough on my plate to worry about than a woman's heart Ren. There are things that are trying to kill us and being in a relationship isn't on my agenda. If Ruby really likes me and wishes to be with me, she will need to learn to wait after everything we are fighting for is done." Jaune walked towards the door to exit the team's room.

"After what happened to Pyrrha… I can't love a woman like I loved her. If I were to lose the person I love again… I'm afraid of what I will be."

"But we are here to help you avoid going down the path that would lead to sadness and hatred. That's what teammates and friends are for." Ren and Nora walked towards the student and placed their hand on his shoulders.

"I need you both to do me a favor. I need you to talk to Ruby and carefully explain to her about what I said. She needs to know exactly why we can't be together. After we finish dealing with the criminals that we are looking for, I will consider going on a date with her. Until then… we are just friends." Jaune walked out of the room and saw Amber waiting for him outside the room.

"You ready to go?" Amber asked.

"… Yeah I am." They headed towards the town where a body had just recently been discovered by law enforcement officials that could possibly be connected to the kidnappings.

 ***RECORDING START…***

 _"_ _Alright it's been a while since I did one of these and not a lot has happened since my last recording. It is August 27_ _th_ _and I recently finished engraving the sigils onto Baltic Sea and it should do what it is intended to do. I think the name is fitting for the weapon if I do say so myself. I'm not sure if I should tell Ash the name I decided to give it. Hopefully she likes it too because if she doesn't it is going be embarrassing. Well anyways, I still need to test it if it will work, but I'm sure it will. I guess I should try it on a Grimm first and hopefully nothing goes horribly wrong. Oh, I also received my dark navy sneaking suit from Atlas. I added a few touches to it and overall, I'm really enjoying using it. Ash thinks it looks really good on me and if I didn't know any better, I think she might have a thing for me. Now that would be a wish come true! Ash's birthday is on the 2_ _nd_ _of November and I am really excited about it. Oh and there is this dance two weeks from now and I don't have a… date. Some dude named Cardin asked Ash to the dance. I don't like that douchebag one bit. The way he treats everyone and especially the Faunus and acts as if he is the one who calls the shots around in school. If he were in my sparring class I would show him that he isn't really tough. I also learned about the Vytal festival that is being held here. Ash really wanted to compete in it in hopes of beating her rival Pyrrha Nikos, the unbeatable student. Ash could never beat her whenever they competed or sparred and she is really fixated on winning against her. I however have a week long mission that will make me miss the festival and I had to tell her that I won't be participating in it. She wasn't that upset, but I think she took it well. It's was really depressing looking at her face when she knew she wouldn't be able to compete. It hurt me seeing her like that, but there isn't really anything I can do. I just hope she can get pass that. I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to the dance, but what I'm really interested in… is our first mission after the dance."_

 ***RECORDING END…***

Yang decided to stop there and take a breather. Listening to Jay talk about Ash was really making her feel depressed, knowing the fact that he has someone else was still hurting her. She decided to head towards the training room to improve her fighting style. She trained long and hard in hopes to improve enough to beat Neo. Throughout her training she pictured Neo as her opponent and gave every ounce of strength to improve herself. She couldn't stop thinking about how she was easily beaten by her. That was the second time she had the edge over her and even after training so hard… she still did not stand a chance. She wanted to get better… she wanted to be able to fight alone like Jay was able to do. Yang collapsed after exhausting herself from the intense training. She laid on her back staring at the ceiling trying to figure out how to get better, how to beat Neo and Jay. Yang headed towards the showers and took a long hot shower that made her relax and think more clearly on how to improve. She stared at the water as it came falling down her face over and over again. She stayed like that for minutes, unable to figure out how she could improve. Unable to come up with a solution, Yang turned the shower off and returned back to her room after putting on her clean outfit. She sat on her bed and stared at the silver box that she had taken from the workshop and wondered what could Jay be hiding?

* * *

Body of Discomfort

"The woman seemed as though she was dead for weeks now. The person who reported the body was a woman who was with her dog in the alley." The officer said.

"What makes this woman connected to the other kidnappings?" Jaune asked.

"The woman appeared to have bruise marks around her neck, arms and legs. She had several broken bones and a fractured skull. In addition to this, she had deep cuts all around her body. Whoever did this tortured her severely but not to the point where she would die. If you ask me, I'd say a satanic follower is in our midst."

"What a sick monster. If I ever get my hands on the person who did this…" Amber said.

"Well you might be able to since we have a person of interest who was caught on surveillance kidnapping the woman. He doesn't want to talk and we've even tried to bargain him with a lesser sentence, but he won't take it."

"Do you mind if we see him? We want to see if maybe we could make him talk." Jaune said.

"Yeah go ahead. He's being interrogated right now back at the station. It is located half a mile northwest from here. You can't miss it." The two decided to head towards the station and find out whether or not Rhett was indeed behind these kidnappings. At this point, it could quite possibly be, but Ozpin wants it to be 100 percent sure that it is Rhett who is behind this. The police departments and huntsmen and huntresses never got along in Remnant. The officers disliked the fact that Huntsmen could easily join an investigation whenever they pleased and always felt inferior to them. Usually whenever there is a case that they are interested in, they can easily join it without needing any approval. This is one of the many reasons why any Huntsmen who are corrupt can easily manipulate any evidence. Later in the day, they both arrived at the station and were taken to where the suspect was being kept.

"So why are you two so interested in this case." The chief asked, as he led them to the room.

"We have reason to believe that this person could lead us to the whereabouts of Rhett Wine." Amber said. "You huntsmen shouldn't be allowed to investigate these types of crimes when you should be killing Grimm. These criminals are for law enforcement to deal with, not a bunch of kids trying to become huntsmen and huntresses." The chief said with an annoyed tone.

"Well it seems as though you guys are doing a wonderful job in catching these people. It has been more than 5 months and you haven't found a single clue about where Rhett could be hiding." Jaune said, getting annoyed by the chief. They finally arrived to the room where the suspect was being kept, but Jaune needed a few pointers on how to interrogate since this would be his first time doing it. They then proceeded to enter the room and began questioning the suspect.

"Alright, so the lovely officers here told me that you were caught kidnapping one of the women here in the city. Were you the monster who did that to her?" Amber asked. Jaune was leaning against the wall, waiting for answers.

"I already told everything to the officer. I wasn't the one who did it and I don't know who the person behind the phone was. All I know is that he wanted me to bring any female body alive and he was willing to pay a hefty amount for it." The man said.

"Well, where exactly did you deliver the body?" Jaune asked.

"There is no way I'm telling you that. I've already said enough as it is."

"How much did he give you to do this? 500 Lien? 600 Lien? Was her life worth the money?" Jaune asked as he slammed his hands on the table.

"How would you know how it feels to not have any money to live, eat, and survive? You're born into a family that is already swimming in money. I have to fight and kill to earn some cash on the streets because getting a job in this pathetic kingdom is harder than getting money by stealing. When you don't have any money maybe then you will realize how bad life can really be!" The man yelled. Jaune didn't know what else to say. His family had money and he never really had a reason to steal anything.

"You're right. It is difficult to live without any money, but if you are willing to give up a human's life for money, what does that make you?" Amber asked.

"I… I… I don't know."

"I was born in a poor family and I had to work myself from the ground up to get where I am today without needing to break the law. I had to work when I was only 6 in order to help my parents pay rent. Not only that, but I also had to go to school and practice fighting everyday so that one day I can help my family and people out in the world. If I could do it, so can you." Amber said.

"…" The man was left speechless and had tears running down his face.

"You can still turn your life around. You are still young and there are other ways of getting money without having to break the law. You can start over by telling me where you delivered the body. By telling me this you will be taking the first step to becoming a better person."

"The woman… I… dropped her off at an old apartment building that no longer housed people. It's located southwest from here on a street called Kennedy. I'm sure if you asked the officers where that is at, I'm sure they will take you." Amber wiped off the tears from the man's face and smiled at him. Jaune and Amber left the room and asked for the directions to the location. After receiving the directions, Jaune and Amber proceeded to leave the station and head towards the old Apartment, but not before Jaune began to ask her some questions.

"Hey Amber… did you really mean all that?" Jaune asked.

"I honestly believe that people are still good inside their hearts. No matter how much pain humans and Faunus goes through, there will always be a sliver of light and hope inside them, even if they don't see it themselves."

"What makes you so sure? What's to say that he won't revert back to his old ways and continue to wreak havoc in the kingdom?"

"I'm not sure. He could possibly revert back to his old self. If you look at him now, you could tell in his eyes that he regrets choosing this lifestyle because there wasn't anyone there to push him to the right direction. Many people have already given up on people who break laws and treat them just like every other criminal even though they do it to survive. Humans and Faunus are all the same. No matter how much you get rid of evil people, more are waiting to be born and the cycle will continue. I think it would be best to simply help as many people as you can bad or not without having the need to kill them. Sure there are instances where you have no choice but to kill them in order to save a life, but that is up for the person to decide whether or not he or she is worth saving. It's up to the person to decide whether or not that bad person can be saved by the Darkness that reside them."

"I see… What about Cinder? Could she have been saved?"

"Could she have been saved? Honestly I don't know. That is something that you need to ask yourself since you were the one who took her life." Jaune thought about this long and hard all the way to the old apartment. Was Cinder's life worth saving? Could she have stopped her cruel ways and used her powers for good to save many people from the evil that resides in the world? There is one thing he does know. No matter what comes his way, he will find a way to stop any evil entity that comes his way.

 **Here is another chapter for you to enjoy. I haven't had time to create other chapters due to college stuff and I barely had time to do this one. I will try to upload another chapter later today, if not then it should be uploaded by tomorrow. I thank you for waiting patiently and I do hope you continue to enjoy reading. I also want to ask you if you would prefer me to also create chapters that would explain what is going on in Jay's side or not. It doesn't really bother if you do want to know or not. If you do, feel free to PM me or leave it somewhere where I can read it. I will see you all later.**


	13. Chapter 13 - Challenges Await

**Chapter 13 – Challenges Await**

"You'll never get that box open unless you have the key." A familiar voice was heard near the door. It was none other than Jay who was leaning against the door.

"James! How did you get here?" Yang quickly got off her bed and was ready to fight him if he made any moves.

"Relax there sunflower, I'm here for that box you're holding." Jay said as he got closer to her.

"Don't move! Why are you here? Shouldn't you be with Torchwick and Neo wreaking havoc in the kingdoms?"

"What? No why would I do that? I'm the good guy here. Where did you hear that from?"

"Qrow. He saw you and Neo teleport away."

"Qrow? Oh I see he told you what happened after he nearly choked me to death."

"Nearly choked you to death?"  
Yeah! That crazy lunatic was going to kill me if Neo hadn't shown up to save me. Tell your uncle that I haven't forgiven him for that. If I ever see him again, I will be sure to return the favor."

"That's not going to happen. Why did you save Torchwick and Neo? Weiss told me that you revived Neo and allowed them to escape."

"You wouldn't understand. No one would ever understand what I'm trying to do. I have no intentions of fighting you or anyone else in your team. All I'm here is for that box and I will be on my merry way."

"What's in the box? What exactly are you hiding?"

"What I'm hiding? I'm hiding things that if the wrong people get their hands on it, they would make it more difficult for me or anyone in that matter to fight them."

"What are you talking about?"

"Stories and legends need to come from somewhere right? Most of these are true and inside that box holds relics from myths all around the world that have the power to turn the tide in any battle. My parents did a lot of traveling when I was young and they were really fascinated by these historical things and believe that some of these stories behind these relics are true. After witnessing what some of these things can do, there is no doubt that there are more things in this world that have unique abilities behind them. Just like this ring that Jaune gave me which belonged to one of my ancestors long ago." Jay raised his hand, showing her the ring he was wearing in his finger.

"So you're telling me that something in here has something that can make someone stronger? Interesting…" Jay walked towards her and she quickly picked up the box in one hand and held it away from him near the window.

"What are you doing Yang?" Jay asked.

"How about you simply give me some of the things in here and only then will I give the box back to you."

"What are you crazy? The only reason why I would even consider giving someone anything is only because I trust them enough to know that they want to bring good in this world. Yang… give it to me." Jay walked even closer which made Yang upset.

"You don't trust me? Why should I trust you? You won't even tell me why you helped Torchwick and Neo to escape which by the way nearly killed me!" Jay stopped and looked at Yang's eyes that were filled with anger.

"You took my scroll as well didn't you? Did you listen to the last recording in it?"

"No… I was about to."

"Go ahead listen to it and then I will explain everything." Yang placed the box next to her and pulled out the scroll to listen to last recording. As she listened to the recording, screams and growls from Grimm can be heard throughout the recording.

 ***RECORDING START…***

" _November… 2… I… just came back from my mission in Haven… I had… to be a bodyguard for an important individual. On my way over here, my airship was attacked by Grimm and came crashing down into the forest. The fire and smoke from the school can be seen from miles away. I knew I had to get there as soon as possible, but on my way over there, I heard the sounds of someone fighting in the forest, but I didn't want to waste time so I continued to run over here. As I arrived to the school, I saw… death… death everywhere. I thought I was in the middle of a war… inside of a slaughter house. The creatures of Grimm were and still are attacking people, as well as White Fang soldiers. This wasn't an accident… it was intentional with the idea of taking down the tower. I fought a few of them on my way here… but I had the chance to save many more lives if I were to stay there and fight, but… the only thought that was crossing my mind at the time was Ash and my team. I chose them over the countless lives that were about to get slaughtered! I tried calling them but none of them answered. I tracked down them down by their scrolls location and they were all gathered in a storage unit near the school. When I got there I saw…I saw… I saw something horrifying… They're all dead… they're all dead. Ash, Dustin, Ecru…they're all dead! Today was supposed to be a special day for us… for Ash! Whatever person… no… whatever monster did this to them… to Ash… I will make sure that he suffers the same fate. I will hunt him down wherever he's hiding and I will eliminate him. HELP! SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEASE!"_ Someone can be heard slamming their hands repeatedly on the door. _"Until that day comes, I will make sure that I will not do the same mistake again."_

 ***RECORDING END…***

"Jay I didn't kno.."

"Stop… its' fine. Sooner or later someone was bound to find out what happened to them. My only goal now is to capture the monster that killed my team and after days of searching I found myself working with Torchwick and his gang. He offered me a deal that I couldn't refuse and that deal was that if I work under him and get the things he wanted and be his personal bodyguard, he would tell me who was the person who killed my team and where I could possibly find him. He said that he knew someone who would do something like that and sure I could have tortured him to get the answers I wanted, but I'm not that type of person to do so… so I agreed and here I am now still working for him under the condition that he doesn't kill anyone as long as I'm working with him." Jay said.

"But why, why are you so fixated on getting revenge and continuing to help the same people who brought this tragedy to the school? Why are you…" Yang was cut off by Jay who couldn't hold his anger in any longer.

"Why!? You want to know why I am so fixated on revenge? You want to know why I'm so fixated on hunting this monster down? I lost my team! I lost the girl I loved! I lost everything! And the things that the evil devil worshipping monster did to my team… is unforgivable. The only person who can really understand how I feel is Jaune and he understands why I'm doing this." Jay had begun to break down and sat on a chair with both hands on his face.

"This isn't the life I chose, this isn't the life I wanted. Tell me, what am I supposed to do?" Yang walked towards the student and wrapped her arms around him as he stared emptily in the floor. She hugged him tightly, making sure he knew that he wasn't alone in this world.

"I have an idea of how it feels to lose someone close to you. My mother left me when I was a little girl and I haven't seen her since. I want you to know that you aren't alone in this world and I will always be here for you."

"What in the world is this?" Amber asked. They both entered the room in which the body was believed to be at. The room was actually a torture room by the looks of things. Saw blades, knives, a bloody baton, and a TV in the end of the room. There was dry blood on the floor and around the chair that was in the center of the room.

"I don't understand… why would someone do such a thing? For what purpose would they do this?" Amber kept asking Jaune that to which he replied with no words and was simply stunned by the view. It reminded him of what he did back in the forest when Beacon was attacked.

"Jaune are you listening to me?"

"Yeah… I am. I don't know what kind of person would do this. Maybe he or she was looking for answers? I'll check on the other rooms to see if there is anything that could possibly help us in the investigation." Jaune went ahead to look at the other rooms in the building to find anything they can use to trace back to Rhett, but alas there was nothing in the rooms except the security room that was located in the back of the building. Jaune quickly called Amber to his side and they both entered the room to which they found equipment destroyed which prevented them from looking through the surveillance videos.

"Dammit. They destroyed everything that could reveal their identities. What are we supposed to do now?" Jaune asked. Upset by the situation, he fell on his butt against the wall in dissatisfaction.

"You give up to easily Jaune, I'm sure they forgot to destroy something around here." She continued to search in hopes of finding something, but there was nothing that could have been salvaged.

"Why would this place still have cameras setup around this abandoned building anyways?" Jaune asked as he watched Amber continue searching.

"This building makes a great place to sell and distribute drugs so this would be an easy way for law enforcement to arrest these criminals."

"Oh that's a pretty good idea."

"Alright it seems there is absolutely nothing here after all. Let's get out of here and head back to school to tell Ozpin what we found." They both headed back to school to tell Ozpin of what they found in their investigation.

"I see… well that's all I'm going to need you to do for now. You can return to your studies Mr. Arc, you have done enough."

"Wait… what about Rhett? There's still much to do."

"Do you know where to start looking?"

"Well… no I don't. That's why I need you to allow me to continue to search in this investigation."

"Mr. Arc you've already taken down Cinder who I may add was the mastermind behind this. The information Qrow provided was sufficient enough for me to deduce that Cinder forced these other criminals to do this atrocious act. Why else would they want to fight together against her? You only wanted the person behind the attack. These other criminals aren't the ones who you were after. As the headmaster of Beacon, I'm commanding you to stop searching. You're already completed your mission and I thank you for it."

"But…"

"You are dismissed Mr. Arc." Jaune was upset by the decision of the headmaster and had no choice but do what he said.

"I understand Professor Ozpin." He walked away towards the elevator and returned back to his room as night approached.

"Are you sure about this Ozpin? We need his help if we're ever going to stop the others." Amber asked.

"I'm sure. If Jaune continues this path, sooner or later he will become the very thing he fears. It has happened to countless of Huntsmen and Huntresses over the years… that's why I can't allow him to become like Cinder… or worse.

* * *

Growth

Jaune headed towards the forest to continue to practice his new ability he had received from Cinder. He was able to create black flames like Cinder did during the battle. Unlike Cinder, Jaune was still a novice in creating a flame big enough to do any damage to a person, let alone a creature of Grimm. Not only did he practice creating the black flames, but he also trained on imbuing his sword with the black flame in order for his weapon to do more damage against his enemies. He went further into the woods where Grimm still roamed even after the attack on the school. He practiced on the creatures which allowed him to be more proficient over the months to come. A month passed and he was now able to imbue his weapon with the black flame and create large fireballs that could take down a big Ursa. However, he knew that wasn't enough and needed to continue to practice using the black flames. While he continued to train, the other teams were also training hard in order to become a threatening team. Weiss was able to complete her summoning and was more proficient with her glyphs and her time dilation. Yang continued to practice with Jay whenever he wasn't on a mission and helped her become a better fighter. He helped her coordinate her attacks more accurately and taught her his fighting style in order for her to have a more variety of moves. He also trained her to remain calm whatever situation arises. She was able to use her semblance to its fullest when she is in battle without having to prolong the fight. Blake and Ruby also had become more precise with their weapons. Ruby had become a very accurate sniper with Crescent Rose and had become more deadly with the scythe under the training of Qrow. She also had the ability to use her semblance at any given moment without using up all of her aura in just a few moves. This allowed her to not only attack very quickly, but to escape any battle without having to use up an immense amount of aura. Blake already proficient in her style of battle had become more strategic when working together in her team which allowed them to complete every mission they were assigned with ease. Ren became even more proficient with his martial arts skills and was able to reduce getting tired during battles. He was able to use small amounts of aura in order to perform strong attacks and he was able to endure more hits than usual. Nora already the powerhouse of the team only focused on her precision of her attacks. Although not much has changed, her attacks were still powerful enough to take down a Nevermore. Team JNR was asked if they were willing to add a different person in their team, but declined and preferred that their team stay the way it was. They didn't want a replacement for Pyrrha and it served as a reminder for Jaune to know what he is fighting for. These two teams had become the most reputable teams in the school which spread to other schools about their significance. Not a day went by when they weren't praised by their skills by the students to which even Cardin and his team respected them. Jay had already explained to the teams why he did what he did in the forest during Jaune's rampage. They understood the reason behind this and decided to leave it alone for now.

As time continued to pass by, both teams had forgotten about the White Fang, Torchick, and Rhett, however, Qrow and Jay were still tracking each of them down individually. Qrow managed to find someone who knew where Adam was at and had told Ozpin about the information. At the moment, most of the Hunters and Huntresses under Ozpin were already dispatched to different missions and only had a few people in mind to send.

Five Tickets to Paradise

"Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna and Weiss Schnee report to the Headmaster's room"

"It looks like Professor Ozpin wants to see us." Jaune said. The four walked to the headmaster's office and walked out of the elevator to see that Amber was there as well.

"Why is she here?" Ruby asked as she crossed her arms.

"Amber… it's been a while. How's it been?" Jaune asked as he walked towards her to give her a hug.

"It's been great. I've been doing some missions here and there but I've been alright." Before Jaune could hug her, Ruby had used her semblance to get in between him and Amber and stop them from hugging.

"Let's get one thing straight, I don't want you to do anything that would make it seem you have feeling for him. Got it!?" Ruby was pointing at Amber's face so close that it made Amber a bit annoyed.

"Nice to see you too Ruby, It seems that you have become more jealous than you were months ago. You still haven't gotten passed the last rejection have you?"

"Weiss, Blake, a little help here?" Jaune asked as he tried to stop the two from tearing each other's clothes off. They helped pull both of them apart and Ozpin was now able to explain why they were brought to his office.

"I brought you all into my office to inform you that Qrow was able to locate someone who possibly has knowledge of the whereabouts of the leader of the White Fang."

"Adam!?" Blake yelled.

"Correct. The person of interest is located in Mistral kingdom. What part of the kingdom is he at? That's for you four to find out. Of course Mistral has some dangerous areas in it so I made sure I had everything prepared for your arrival when you make it to Haven Academy."

"Why Haven Academy?" Ruby asked.

"That's where your second team will be at."

"Second team?" Blake asked.

"Correct. You're airship will be arriving in a few hours so I suggest you get ready. Amber here will lead the team so I suggest you get comfortable with her being around. The information for this mission will be sent to your scrolls in a few minutes. You are all dismissed." Jaune, Ruby, Blake, and Weiss left Ozpin's office and headed back down and Amber stayed a little longer with the Professor.

"Jaune…" Jaune looked to his right and it was Jay leaning against the wall by the elevator. Jaune signaled the others to go on without him and they both chatted for a bit.

"What is it Jay?"

"You should know by now that Haven and Beacon students don't like getting along. You need to understand there are a few people who don't mind the presence of student's from other schools, but you shouldn't think that they will all be like that."

"With what happened to Beacon because of the atlesian knights I'm not surprised that they no longer trust us. I will be careful… don't worry about it."

"If you need help with anything over there be sure to call me or your team. We will be there at any given moment."

"Don't worry… I will." The two bro hugged and left to their rooms. Over the months, Jaune and Jay had developed a brother to brother relationship which made those two a threatening duo when challenged. Jaune and the others prepared their luggage and waited for the airship to arrive.

"Oh! Maybe we will get a chance to visit Sun and his team when we arrive!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Oh right. I almost forgot that Sun and his team attend Haven academy." Jaune said.

"Then maybe I will see Neptune!" Weiss said.

"Why would you want to see Neptune when you can see me?" Jaune said as he flexed his muscles towards the Ice queen.

"Oh shut up you dunce." Ruby proceeded to punch Jaune to which he rubbed his arm to relieve the pain. The time arrived when the airship came to pick them up. Ren, Nora, Yang, and even Qrow came by to wish them luck. Jay was looking from afar as they both said their goodbyes and left. The team doesn't know what will happen when they reach there, but there is one thing they do know. Whoever this person was that holds the information they seek, they will get answers.

 **Here is another Chapter like I promised. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter and I will see you all later. If you wish to have something added to the story, don't hesitate to ask. I might add it sooner or later to the story. Thanks for your time.**


	14. Chapter 14 - Haven Academy

**Chapter 14 - Haven Academy**

The airship was a few miles away from arriving to Mistral and the teams were getting their luggage ready. Upon arriving, Weiss managed to get a glimpse of someone familiar waiting for them near the landing zone.

"Winter!?" Weiss exclaimed as she looked through the window.

"I'm pretty sure it's Spring Weiss." Jaune said as he looked out the window.

"No you dunce! I'm talking about my sister."

"You have a sister!?" Jaune asked, somewhat excited knowing that the girl he thinks is beautiful has a sister.

"Where is she? I want to see how she looks like." Jaune asked as he pushed Weiss out of the window to get a glimpse himself, but missed his chance of seeing her since the airship landed. The team walked out of the airship and was greeted by the elegant woman who was guarded by two of her atlesian knight droids.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm…" Winter was cut off by Ruby who yelled in happiness.

"Winter!" Ruby yelled. She quickly ran towards Winter to give her a tight hug after not seeing her since the Vytal festival.

"Ruby. It's nice seeing you again." Winter said as she tried to push her away and trying to get air back into her lungs.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Blake. I'm also part of team RWBY." Blake said as she shook Winter's hand."

"And who might this charming gentleman be?" Winter asked as she walked towards Jaune.

"A pleasure to meet you Winter. I'm Jaune Arc, member and the team leader of team JNR."

"You must be my sister's beloved correct?" Winter said as this question caused the whole group to be in a state of shock.

"What!? Me? With him!? Never!?" Weiss exclaimed.

"This leader is a member of the Arc family. A family that is well renowned for their courage and battle prowess. Why haven't you taken him as your partner yet?"

"He is mine!" Ruby exclaimed. She marched towards Jaune to grab him by the arm and pull him away from Winter who was already holding him by the shoulders.

"You wish he was yours Ruby." Amber said.

"I'm sorry Ruby, but an underwhelming child like you wouldn't be considered fit to be his Girlfriend."

"Why you!" Ruby upset by the insult, tried to grab Winter by the hair but was stopped by her team who managed to step in before things escalated any further.

"Nice to meet you Winter. I'm Amber." Amber stretched her arm out to shake Winter's hand.

"Why don't we just head to where we are supposed to go and sget our rooms?" Jaune asked as he was already tired from the trip and couldn't care what they did to each other at the moment. The teams walked towards the school and had begun to discuss about what the first steps should be. Winter was telling them that they would be staying at the Academy for as long as they want until the mission is over. The headmaster of the school was kind enough to lend some vacant rooms for the teams to stay in.

"This feels a little too suspicious for me." Blake said.

"Why would a headmaster of the school allow a team from Beacon and a woman from Atlas be allowed to stay in their Academy. If I were a headmaster I wouldn't allow a woman guarded by Atlesian knights which by the way attacked our students and a school to stay in the Academy."

"I agree. This is all too good to be true. The fact that all students from different academies never got along to begin with would make the situation even more difficult than it already is. I suggest we avoid any confrontation that comes our way. If we do end up doing anything that can hurt their trust with our Kingdoms, things would escalate even more." Amber said to the group as they reached the entrance of the schools. Jaune and the team walked inside and saw many Haven students strolling around. They immediately caught the attention of the student that was passing by since the teams had their signature Beacon uniforms. Many of them have begun to gossip about them and their school.

"Why are Beacon students here? Haven't they already cost enough trouble the last time we went to their school? I hope they didn't bring any Grimm along with them."

"It seems they brought the Schnee sisters along with them as well. They even brought Atlesian Knights. You better keep your guard up or else it might end up killing you."

"Well… we better find our way to the headmaster's room to tell him we have arrived." Jaune said , walking towards a map of the school, but was stop by a familiar face.

"Sup losers." Sun said as he walked in front of them followed by Neptune.

"Sun. Neptune. How's it been?" Jaune asked as he bro hugged the two.

"It's been lame here. There's nothing to do here except for school work which is by the way… lame."

"It's not all bad." Neptune said.

"Shut up nerd." Sun said.

"Intellectual." Neptune stated.

"Well we are supposed to go meet up with the headmaster of the school who is going to partner us with another team from the school." Weiss stated.

"Well look no further snow angel you're looking at the 2nd team right now." Neptune said as he and Sun posed in front of them.

"Wait… you were assigned to work with us in our mission?" Blake asked.

"Yup. Sun and I will be attending this lovely mission with you all. Thank us after we complete the mission successfully."

"Well do you know where the headmaster's office is located? We are going to advise him of our arrival and ask him about the rooms we will be staying." Weiss asked as she looked around at the sight of many Mistral students glaring at them.

"Follow me, I'll take you to him." Sun said, as he walked towards the headmaster's office direction. They walked passed many students who glared at Winter and her Atlesian knights.

"Just stick close to me and you'll be fine. Ever since the attack at Beacon, the students were… a bit upset when they watched videos of Atlesian knights attacking Mistral students.

"They should understand that Atlas military wouldn't do anything that would hurt innocent lives and cause a huge uproar." Winter stated as she walked next to them.

"My sister is right. Atlas didn't have control over the androids and shouldn't be suspected of planning the attack with the White Fang."

"Well, no matter how many times you explain it to them I doubt they'll ever believe what you say. Most students here tend to be a bit… mean. I wouldn't recommend making new friends on your stay here." Neptune said.

"Oh come on… they can't be that mean." Ruby said. Immediately a student decapitated the Atlesian knights that were behind the group of friends and caught their attention.

"Now that's much better. You guys didn't want these androids end up shooting you right?" A female student with long colorful hair and purple eyes stood behind them with a smirk on her face as she asked the group.

"You do realize that you just destroyed Atlas military property?" Winter asked as she glared at the girl.

"Yes I do and I take full responsibility Ms. Schnee." The student bowed to her and smirked at her.

"Why you…"

"Winter… we can't do anything that could jeopardize the thin line of trust we still have with our kingdoms. If something were to happen here, it would just be putting fuel into the fire." Amber whispered.

"Iris we don't want any problems. They're here on a mission and you know how the headmaster hates fights outside of the sparring arena." Neptune said as he signaled the others to continue walking. The girl smirked and simply walked away without saying a word.

"The sooner we get to the office, the better." Blake said as the group sped up to avoid any other confrontation. After walking several minutes, they finally arrived to the headmaster's office. Unlike Ozpin's office, this office was located in an observatory that was built within the school. The room had plenty of space to fit four classrooms and had an open roof that would allow anyone to gaze into the sky at their leisure. They gazed around the room and were in awe of how amazing it was. And couldn't stop staring at the sky as it was about to turn night.

"My office looks way better than Ozpin's correct?" The headmaster was sitting on a comfy couch which faced towards the moon. His figure looked that of General Ironwood, but looked much younger. The headmaster seemed as though he was no older than 25 which surprised the Beacon students.

"Heck yeah it does." Jaune said as he continued to look around the room.

"I've been expecting you all. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Professor Gwyn, the headmaster of this Academy."

"My name is Amber and this is my team that will be completing a mission here in Mistral." Amber said.

"We're team RWBY… well sort of." Ruby said as she waved to the professor.

"Indeed you are. You must be Jaune Arc correct?"

"Yeah I am. How do you know that?"

"I met your father when I was a kid. He saved me from a Nevermore had its eyes set on me and he managed to kill it with little to no effort. When I became the Headmaster of this school, I had heard a rumor that your father passed away. Is it true?"

"Unfortunately… yes it is."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"It's fine. It happened when I was still a child. Anyways Ozpin told you about our mission here?"

"Yes indeed he did, though he didn't go into full detail of what the mission is about but I trust Ozpin's students that they won't get into trouble? The incident in Beacon has all the kingdoms watching their backs."

"Surely you understand that Atlas did not intend to harm civilians and the Atlesian Knights were hacked into that made them attack the innocent." Winter stated.

"I can trust Ironwood that he did not intend to do that, but the government doesn't want to believe him one bit. We can only hope that something doesn't happen that would lose the trust that all kingdoms share but enough with that. I owed your father a favor for saving me and the only way to repay him is to provide his son and his friends a place to stay for as long as they want. I hope you enjoy your stay here at Haven Academy."

"To be honest, I hardly believe that our stay here will be anything but enjoyable."

"Let me guess… the students here are already trying to pick a fight with all of you?"

"Yeah…" Ruby said slightly smiling.

"I will be sure to send out a message to all students about doing anything to provoke you, but I can't guarantee that it will work. The students here tend to be a bit aggressive when it comes to students from other academies."

"We understand. I don't expect them to trust us anytime soon so I guess we will need to work around this." Weiss said. The Headmaster explained the team where their dorm room was located and they were off to catch some sleep since the trip took its toll on them. The teams made it to their rooms safely. Jaune, Amber and Winter had their own rooms, whereas Ruby's team had to bunk with each other in a different room. Both teams fell asleep immediately after laying down in their new comfy beds in their new rooms. As the night passed, Jaune woke up a few hours earlier than the others to get prepared for the search. After taking a shower, Jaune had begun to analyze the city's map. He looked in areas where the crime rates and poverty levels were high since that is where Jaune believed most of the criminal activity would be. Qrow had taught him to always go to the most dangerous areas in order to find and get information on people with criminal history. Jaune opened his scroll and looked at the name of his target.

"Roy Carver. Five foot eleven, short Red/Orange hair, average built, Male, and has a distinct mark on his right cheek that has the letter R. Last seen in Angel Pine in Mistral." Jaune said. He looked carefully over the information he was given and downloaded a map of Mistral onto his scroll. He is going to need Sun and Neptune to help guide him. After nearly an hour of thinking, he had decided what he was going to do. For now, he wanted to look around the academy to see what other things the school had that Beacon didn't. He walked through the cafeteria and noticed that it was a little more decorative than Beacon's. Before he could see the other parts of the school, Jaune had noticed that he was being followed. He didn't want to believe it at first, but after walking in different directions the student's aura was still present and followed him. Jaune decided it would be best to head outside to avoid getting lost in the school. Once he made it outside, he headed turned around and spoke to the mysterious person who Jaune knew was invisible.

"Alright… I know you've been following me for a while now. Care to show yourself now?" Jaune asked as he spread his arms apart and looking at the direction of the Aura he felt.

"So you can sense me huh? That's a pretty useful trick you got there." The mysterious person said as he deactivated his semblance. The person was a student who looked like the type of person who was considered to be very popular among the female students among the school.

"I heard you already met my girlfriend Iris. I wanted to apologize for what she did yesterday." The student said as he smiled at Jaune. To Jaune's surprise, the student's hair would change colors in specific areas of his hair. Every time the student moved his head around, it would change colors.

"…" Jaune didn't say anything as he was amazed by what was going on with the student's hair. The student looked at Jaune confused and he notice that Jaune was staring at his hair.

"Oh… yeah I have this weird thing where my hair tends to change its color based on what the Sun is hitting. My hair is basically like a see through prism when light hits through it. Ironically, my name is Light." Light said, reaching his arm out to shake Jaune's hand.

"My name is Jaune… Jaune Arc."

"Wait a minute… Jaune Arc? Aren't you like the strongest student in Beacon?"

"I've been told that, but I know there are other students stronger than me. Anyways, what were you doing following me around while invisible? That's not really a great way to go about apologizing for your girlfriend."

"I just wanted to see what you were up to. The fact that your team is hanging around with that Atlas traitor makes your team look suspicious."

"I understand, but we have a mission here at Mistral and the last thing we need is to start a fight. Just make sure you keep your girlfriend away from my team."

"I can't promise that. Ever since her best friend was killed in the attack, she always wants to pick a fight with students that aren't from her school."

"Who was her friend? I lost someone close too so I can understand what she is going through."

"Her name was… Pyrrha Nikos." Jaune's eyes widened and time had slowed down for him for a brief moment to allow him to analyze what Light had just said.

 _"_ _Iris is Pyrrha's close friend? Wait a minute… Pyrrha went to Sanctum before she arrived to Beacon. Could she have been friends with that student then? What am I going to do? If she finds out that I am part of team JNPR and was her team leader there is no doubt that she is going to want to kill me for letting her die. No wait… maybe Pyrrha stopped talking to her after she left Sanctum and never communicated ever again, but what if they stayed in touch, what if she had told them everything about me and our team. No that can't be. Iris would have noticed me by now, but then again I was pretty far from her so maybe she wasn't able to tell that who I was. My hair does look paler than how it was when I arrived in Beacon so maybe that's what kept my identity from being revealed. In any case, I need to avoid her at all cost, if she ever does find out who I am… I'm screwed."_ Jaune thought.

"I've got a brilliant idea. Why don't you have a quick match with me? I would really like to see the top student of Beacon in action. Students here in Haven would consider me to be one of the best so this would really give the biggest opportunity to test myself. What do you say?"

"I understand how much you want to spar with me, but I'm not here to have fun. I have a mission to do and I can't waste time. It was nice meeting you though." Jaune said, as he returned to the school.

* * *

Intensity

After hours of preparation, Jaune had gathered his team into his room to explain how it's going to work.

"Weiss, Blake, Sun and I are going to the east side of Mistral to gather more information on Roy's whereabouts. Qrow has always told me that the best place to find these types of people are in the worst spots. The place is called… Angel Pine. Criminal activity there is high and that would give us a better opportunity to gather info on our target."

"Hey wait a minute! Why can't we go with you?" Ruby asked.

"You and the others will be going towards the same area however, you will be going to the local Police Department and download Roy's criminal records. I'm sure there will be useful information that we can use. Relatives, criminal records, living quarters, everything."

"Fine… But at least let me and Weiss exchange roles. I want to go with you."

"No Ruby you can't, you look a lot younger than the four of us and that could give us away in a heartbeat. Amber… you should be the leader of that group."

"Sounds like a great plan. You seem to be the better choice as the leader of this whole operation than I am" Amber stated.

"Thanks for the compliment. Blake and Qrow helped me perfect my leadership and planning."

"Okay then. We should go get something to eat at the cafeteria. I'm really starving." Sun said as the group agreed to go and grab something to eat. The teams headed to the cafeteria filled with students. The teams weren't wearing their signature Beacon attire so they weren't easily picked out from the crowd. However, Winter still had her Atlas attire on and there were quite a bit of students who recognized her and the group. The teams got their food and sat an empty table to enjoy their warm meal.

"The food here is alright I guess." Ruby said.

"Back in Atlas we have better more delicious food than what these Academies tend to serve. I will simply go purchase a meal somewhere in the city that is actually decent." Winter said as she slid her food to the side."

"Well if you aren't going to eat that… I will happily eat it for you. I would never let a food go to waste, especially decent food." Sun said as he scarfed down her meal.

"Hey man, slow it down. The food isn't going to run away." Neptune said.

"You don't know that." As the teams were enjoying their meal, someone in the distance threw an apple at the team to which Jaune was able to catch, nearly hitting Ruby. He got up from his feet and called out to the person who through the apple. A woman across the room stood up and raised her hand with a smirk on her face.

"I did. What are you going to do about it?" She asked.

"Dammit Iris, what did I say about picking fights outside of the sparring arena!? Neptune said standing up with an angry look.

"Oh sorry, I didn't catch that. Mind jogging up my memory?"

"Guys, let's just go get food from outside the school. The last thing we need to make a bigger scene." The group agreed and had begun to walk towards the exit before being stopped by the same woman again.

"Hey listen. Unless you want a black eye with those purple eyes of yours, I suggest you step aside." Blake said, getting annoyed by the student.

"How about you make me?" Blake already annoyed, kicked her right on her face, sending her sliding away. The whole group's mouths dropped in shock as well as the rest of the students who just witnessed the attack. The cafeteria was quiet with no sound being emitted from anyone. The student who was kicked had blood dripping from her mouth and stared the group with a small smile. Her hair and eyes turned red which made the group surprised even more.

"Oh great… this ought to be good." Sun said as he saw Iris stand up.

"Did her eyes and hair just turn to a different color?" Ruby asked.

"Yup." Sun and Neptune said.

"Do you want another kick to the face or are you smart enough to move to the side now."

"Blake!" Sun said.

"That's a nice kick you got there." Iris said wiping the blood off her lips. Blake walked towards her with an angry look.

"Are you going to move or do you want me to force you to move?" Without warning, Iris swiftly kicked Blake in the face, but Blake activated her semblance and allowed her shadow to take the hit for her. Blake quickly stepped back and carefully watched her to make sure she doesn't get another hit.

"That's for kicking me."

"Okay that is enough." Light appeared and stepped in front of the two.

"Light! Get out of my way. I think she deserves what's coming to her in a bit for kicking me right in the face." Iris said.

"That's what happens when you keep annoying me and my friends." Blake said.

"Listen to me. You're aren't dealing with any ordinary students. These Beacon students are the best that Beacon has to offer and that person right there is Jaune Arc. The student who is considered to be the most gifted of them all." Iris's eyes widened from what she heard while staring at Jaune. Her hair turned white and her heart began to beat in a fast rhythm.

"J-Jaune Arc?" Iris asked still in shock.

 _"_ _No, no, NO, NO, NO! This isn't good."_ Jaune thought as the crowd had begun chanting.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" The crowd kept repeating this over and over again causing more tension.

"Get him Iris!"

"Yeah! Show him how Haven is better than Beacon!" The crowd were yelling and hoping to see a fight.

"Y-you're part of team JNPR… the same team where my friend Pyrrha was in. Y-you're the guy she had always mentioned when I was talking to her." Iris said as her expression turned to anger.

"YOU'RE THE REASON WHY SHE'S DEAD!" Iris screamed as she pushed aside Light and ran towards Jaune with the intent to harm Jaune.

 **Here is Chapter 14 everyone hope you enjoy it. I'm sorry that I took so long making one. I will see you guys later.**


	15. Chapter 15 - The Results of Training

**Chapter 15 – The Results of Training**

Ruby quickly pushed Jaune to the side causing Iris to miss her punch and fall to the ground. Ruby used her semblance to quickly punch the girl who was now on the floor before being stopped by a third person. A male student covered in purple electric aura appeared and kicked Ruby in the gut sending her sliding across the cafeteria. Jaune didn't like what he saw and jumped towards the student with a kick of his own, but was blocked by the student and was pushed back. Blake used her grappling hook to grab hold of the student's leg and reel him in which caused him to fall over. A fourth person with a strong aura was sensed by Jaune across the room which was a female student with violet hair and eyes. She pulled out her bow and shot an arrow that could possibly kill Blake. Jaune was able to activate his semblance and sent the arrow away into the black void. Jaune quickly conjured up black flames beneath the woman's feet, ready to set the girl on fire until a loud scream was heard that caused everyone in the cafeteria to collapse to their knees and their backs. Jaune's black flames dissipated and everyone was now on the floor covering their ears from the loud scream.

"Are you all done now!?" A woman was heard yelling in the cafeteria. Jaune turned around and saw an old female teacher glaring at everyone. He can only think that it was an instructor who was passing by.

"What did the professor say about fights outside of the sparring arena!? If you all want to hurt each other so bad settle it in the battle arena and not the school's lunch room!" The woman looked at the students who were fighting and signaled them to follow her. Neither of the students showed signs of reluctance and proceeded to follow her. Jaune and the group did the same since she looked at them the same way, as if to say they weren't being let off so easily. As both groups followed behind her, all the students from the cafeteria walked behind them as if they were also called in, but they were coming in their own free will. After a while, they reached the school's battle arena which seemed bigger than the one in Beacon. From there, Jaune already knew what he and his team had gotten into. They were going to fight with the other students involved in the tussle.

"You three, choose someone to be on your team." The woman said.

"We don't want to…" Ruby was cut off by the woman.

"You engaged in a battle outside of the arena. Here in Mistral, any qualms outside of class are settled here. You will settle the problem with them now." The Professor said as they showed the entrance to the battlefield. The students who were in the lunch room were now occupying the seats around the arena and seemed excited, as if they were about to see the finale of the Vytal Festival.

"Blake, Weiss, Ruby follow me. It seems the only way to get around this obstacle is to show that we aren't going to tolerate people messing with us." Jaune said.

"Wouldn't it be best if you teamed up with Winter and Amber?" Weiss asked.

"I could, but I want to work together as a team to see our potential."

"Let's win this." Ruby said, pumped for the match. The team they were facing took a few minutes to get ready and came out with their fighting attire.

"Team VILT (Violet) you may now enter the battle field." The four students walked out of the hallway and into the battlefield.

"We never got to introduce to you my teammates now have I?" Iris said.

"This is Violet, Light, and Tyrian." Iris wore a purple vest with a white long sleeve buttoned shirt and gloves which seemed to catch many eyes staring at her beauty. Her weapon was a white bag which no one could guess what was inside. Violet was wearing a professional dark purple business suit with a purple tie and a pair of black leather gloves. However, she only had a bow and a quiver on her back. Light was the weirdest one out of them. He was wearing his casual comfortable clothing and had nothing on him or his hands. Yet his stance and how he has his hands together gives off the impression that he is holding a weapon. Tyrian had purple spiked hair and was heavy built. He had a tank top and a black/purple trench coat with black pants. He was the person that Jaune was most worried about since his speed was on par with Ruby's, but unlike Ruby, Tyrian had incredible strength.

"Let the match begin!" The Professor yelled as did the students in the arena who were witnessing the battle.

* * *

Intertwined

"Ruby, get Tyrian!" Jaune yelled, but before she could follow his order, Tyrian had already appeared in front of Jaune and his team in seconds. Jaune had no time to use his black aura as armor so took the force of the attack in the stomach causing him to cough out blood.

"Jaune!" The team yelled as they watched his leader slide away from them. Ruby used her semblance to catch Tyrian off guard and use Crescent Rose to send him back which worked.

"Tyrian stay back!" yelled Iris as she pulled out a rocket from her bag which was definitely impossible.

"There's no way that's possible!" Weiss yelled. Iris launched the missile towards them, but was stopped by Weiss's summoning. A giant white greatshield stopped the missile from harming the team. Violet and Tyrion ran towards the team whereas Light and Iris stayed back and provided cover fire. Jaune quickly unleashed his black armor and conjured up black flames in front of Tyrian and Violet to stop their attacks. This allowed Jaune enough time to run back towards his team and formulate a plan while he used the black holes as cover from any projectiles that may come towards them.

"Blake, you take care of Violet and Ruby takes care of Tyrion after this next attack. Ruby's speed should be on par with his speed, but make sure you avoid his hits. One hit from him managed to fracture one my ribs but my aura was able to fix it. Ruby you still have your ring?" Jaune asked.

"Never leave home without it." Ruby said as she placed her hand in front of her, showing off the ring.

"Good." Jaune said.

"What about me?" Weiss asked.

"Frostbite." Jaune said. Weiss nodded and Jaune quickly dissipated the flames and the black hole. Jaune went behind Weiss and placed his hand on her back. Jaune's black aura transferred to Weiss and the black veins had begun to grow in one side of her face and covered her right eye in black. The right side of the lip had an evil smirk whereas the left side of her face was calm and collected. She used her summoning again and released a giant black knight that amazed everyone in the arena.

"NOW!" Jaune yelled. The black knight swung his sword and released a wave of black crescent aura that managed to hit Violet's team back. The power behind the swing nearly knocked them out, but they managed to get back on their feet again. Once more the black night swung his sword for a second attack but Violet had something to block it.

"Everyone! Behind me!" Violet yelled. Everyone followed her order and got behind her right when the attack was coming. She created a massive violet barrier that managed to stop the attack from defeating them.

"Light!" Violet yelled.

"I'm on it." Light said, turning himself invisible. Ruby and Blake ran towards the cornered team to finish them off but were sent flying. The sound of two shotguns shooting rung and Blake and Ruby were on their backs.

 _"_ _Weiss can you hear me?"_ Jaune asked in his mind.

 _"_ _Yes I can. What's our next plan?"_

 _"_ _I'm going to imbue the black knight's sword with black flames and that should do the trick to at least finish them off. However, if I do this my aura will drop significantly and I will only be able to continue transferring my black aura onto the summoning for a few more minutes until I release it and you start to use your aura."_

 _"_ _It's fine. The aura I used to summon the knight was yours so I still have my full aura to use. Do it!"_

Jaune opened his eyes and increased his Dark aura's intensity allowing the black knight to imbue his sword with the black flames.

"Ruby get behind me!" Jaune yelled Ruby quickly went behind Jaune and awaited his orders.

"Listen Ruby, I can feel Light's presence even though he is invisible so when I tell you to attack a certain direction you do it."

"Got it." Jaune closed his eyes and tried to feel out Light's position.

"THERE!" Jaune yelled. Ruby used her semblance to catch Light off guard and get a direct hit on him. The plan worked and Light was slashed with Ruby's scythe and went sliding away. Before Ruby could react, a massive light was gathered in front of her and was shot in point black range. She was hit with a devastating attack that sent her flying across the arena. The speed of the flight was so fast that the wall behind her cracked and fell to the floor.

"RUBY!" Jaune and Blake screamed.

 _"_ _How? How did that happen?"_ Jaune thought. From the spot where Ruby was shot, a person appeared. It was Iris who was invisible and attacked Ruby.

"What!? She can turn invisible too!?" Jaune yelled. He quickly made the black knight swing his sword to create the crescent black flame towards Tyrian and Iris. Tyrian used his speed to grab Iris to jump over the attack but was singed on his foot which caused the flame to stick to him.

"What the hell!?" Tyrian yelled as he tried to stop the flame from spreading by putting out with his hands. However, this made things worse for him since the flame was not only stuck to his foot, but his hand that he used to put out the flame caught on fire too.

"My black flames are similar to having a sickness that can be easily caught be anyone who makes contact with it. I suggest you give up now or else the fire will continue to …" Jaune was cut off by Tyrian and Iris appearing in front of him. The duo's attack was stopped by the Black Knight that used its greatshield to block the incoming attack. The duo's strength managed to push back the Black Knight which surprised Jaune and Weiss.

 _"_ _She also has the same electric semblance as her teammate!?"_ Jaune thought. While Weiss and Jaune were distracted by the two, Violet took this time to go for a sneak attack from the side, but was stopped by Blake who managed to use her grappling hook to trip Violet. Tyrian and Iris split up and went for Blake and Weiss. Jaune knew he only had a bit more aura left until he would have to stop the transfer so he used this time to unleash a powerful Dark aura blast that would send anybody near the Black Knight back. Jaune however, made sure that the blast would not affect him and Weiss and unleashed the powerful force, sending Tyrian, Iris, and Violet sliding away on their backs. Blake took the opportunity to release Violet and instead, used her grappling hook on Tyrian to avoid him using his speed. The Black Knight dissipated his sword and shield to create giant orbs on each hand. Iris ran towards Violet and touched her shoulder before the two ran towards Tyrian to protect him from the attack. Iris and Violet stood in front of Tyrian and placed both of their hands in front of them. Blake immediately knew what they were about to do and pulled the grappling hook she had used on Tyrian to pull him towards the Knight. The Knight released the black orbs towards its foes direction and Iris and Violet had no choice but to use both of their strength to create a double barrier to prevent the blast from breaking it and defeating them. The giant blast darkened the whole battlefield and a black mist surrounded it for a few seconds. Tyrian was caught on the blast and now was unconscious and could no longer continue. The Black knight had shielded Jaune and his friends from the blast, but Jaune was now getting side effects of him transferring too much of his Dark aura to Weiss and had to stop. He released his hand off of Weiss's back and she and the giant Knight returned back to normal. Jaune's black aura returned to him and he was able to create his black armor once again, but overusing his aura caused him to collapse to one knee and get a sharp pain on his head.

"Jaune are you alright?" Weiss asked as she turned around and helped Jaune get back on his feet.

"I-I'm fine. I just overdid it a little bit." Jaune said. The three looked at where the orbs hit, expecting Iris and Violet to be on the floor unconscious, but were shocked to see that Violet's barrier was still active. He unsheathed Crocea Mors and ran towards Violet, whereas Weiss and Blake went for Iris. Jaune swung his black sword towards Violet's barrier and broke through it causing Iris and Violet to separate. Jaune slashed his sword again at Violet, but she avoided the attack and countered with a powerful punch that Jaune had barely managed to block with his sword just in time. Violet's attack had a powerful force behind it that pushed Jaune back. Thanks to his sword's ability, he was able to use the power behind the attack to increase his strength and speed which was able to hit Violet with a barrage of attacks several times. However, she was able to create various small barriers around herself to avoid Jaune's quick slashes. Violet knew she will have to use all her strength to take down Jaune and released her aura that she still had stored. Now she was agile and was able to avoid his attacks and counter them with punches and well placed kicks. Her attacks reminded Jaune of someone he knew, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Jaune jumped back and made the floor under her explode with black flames but she managed to place a barrier beneath her to avoid the flames from catching her. She used her aura on her feet to give her a boost when she jumped towards Jaune allowing her to punch Jaune right in the chest causing him to go sliding away.

 _"_ _This strength, this fighting style…its Jay's fighting style! Why does she fight exactly like Jay!? No problem. I know how Jay fights and now this is all over."_ Jaune thought

"I recognize the way you tend to fight. You fight exactly like a close friend of mine back at Beacon." Jaune said with a smirk on his face.

"Does it look like I care!?" Violet yelled as she sent a barrage of punches and kicks towards Jaune.

* * *

Two Is Better Than One

Weiss used her glyphs to send her straight towards Iris in a mere second allowing her to catch Iris off guard and hit her with her Rapier. Iris was sent sliding back on her feet, but managed to stay on guard. She held the twin blade as if she had years of experience with it that intimidated Weiss and Blake.

"Weiss, let's go!" Blake yelled. Iris smirked as they saw the two coming towards her and used a summoning to call upon a Giant White Knight which was similar to Weiss's summoning. Weiss and Blake froze as they saw the White Knight appearing in front of them and had no choice but to fall back and come up with a plan fast.

"How the hell is that possible!? That's my semblance and my family is the only one capable of using it." Weiss said.

"Listen Weiss!" Blake yelled.

"Iris doesn't have all these semblances! She only has one, and that is copying other people's semblance! Use your own summoning as well and make sure it distracts her knight to allow us time to take out Iris!" Weiss agreed and used her summoning to call upon the White Knight to her aid and pre occupy Iris's knight. The two Knights now engaged in battle allowing Weiss and Blake to take on Iris together. Iris's proficiency with the Twin blade made sure there weren't any clear shots for Weiss and Blake to take. Blake jumped back and used her grappling hook to trip Iris over and allow Weiss to get a direct hit on her. The tactic worked and Weiss was able to use her Rapier's dust to hit her with explosive damage. Amazingly, Iris quickly recovered and kicked Weiss's feet causing her to fall over and have the opportunity to take Weiss out. However, Blake shot Iris's twin blade out of her hands and now had to go on the defensive. Weiss's aura had already begun to diminish due to the Knight's summoning and she had no choice but to stop the summoning. Iris surprisingly still had plenty of aura left in her which concerned the two. Iris's Knight slashed at the two but they manage to avoid its attacks. They had to come up with something quick or else they will surely lose. Iris grabbed her twin blade and went straight for Blake whereas the White knight went for Weiss. Iris swung her blades ferociously making it impossible for Blake to stop each swing. One of the blades were about to hit her in the face, but she used her semblance to replace herself with an ice sculpture causing Iris to get stuck along with it. This gave Blake the perfect opportunity to finish her off. She struck Iris on her chest but she copied Blake's semblance leaving an ice sculpture of her own causing Blake to get stuck. The White Knight that Iris had summoned disappeared which surprised Weiss and gave her the chance to go straight for Iris using her repulsion glyph which allowed her to get launched towards her and finish her off with a powerful explosive dust propelled attack from her Rapier.

Iris now lay unconscious on the floor and the two were ready to stop and rest, but Weiss was struck from behind by an invisible person who Blake knew who it was. Light was never unconscious and was just playing possum, waiting for this opportunity to take out one of them and it was Weiss who drew the short straw. Blake knew she had no chance of winning against Light when he's invisible and her only choice was to go get Jaune's help. She tried to run towards Jaune but was caught by something from her feet and collapse to the floor. Blake shot everywhere, but couldn't land a single hit on Light.

"There is no chance of beating me in your state. Good night!" Light yelled as he was about to deliver the finishing blow. In an instant, black flames arose in front of Blake, disallowing Light to finish her off. Luckily he didn't touch the flames or else he himself would end catching on fire.

* * *

Pride

"Blake! Get over here fast! We're going to switch partners! That will give us the perfect opportunity to win this!" Jaune yelled, avoiding every swing and kick Violet has been sending towards him.

"STOP PLAYING WITH ME!" Violet yelled, getting annoyed by the fact that her attacks were failing to hit Jaune.

"Did you really think you could beat me?" Jaune asked with a smirk. Jaune had begun to use his black flames to stop Violet from punching and kicking carelessly which angered her more. She swung her fist towards Jaune's face, but was stopped by the black flames that he conjured up in front of her. She stopped midway from the punch, barely preventing herself from catching her fist on fire. Her eyes were now full of anger as she saw Jaune smirk at the failed attack.

"DON'T SCREW WITH ME!" She yelled. She swung her fist with all her might towards the flame, hitting Jaune's face. Jaune was sent soaring threw the air and towards the barrier that surrounded the arena to prevent any students getting caught in the crossfire. Violet's fist was now on fire, but she didn't care and went straight towards Jaune who was on the floor dazed by the punch.

"JAUNE!" Amber yelled. She couldn't believe how strong that attack was and the whole arena was shocked by the sight. Jaune although dazed, noticed Violet standing and looking towards him full of anger in her eyes. She pulled out her bow from her back and aimed it straight towards Jaune. Aura had started to transfer to the arrow that had the potential to make a blast radius that could not only take Jaune out, but the whole competitors too. Jaune immediately used his semblance to absorb the attack, but couldn't move his arms.

 _"_ _What's going on!? I can't move my arms! It feels like have been tied up with a…LIGHT!"_ Jaune looked towards Blake's direction and noticed Blake arms and legs positioned as if she was tied up. Jaune could only watch as the powerful arrow was ready to be launched, but right when she was about to release it, a loud bang rang through the arena and Violet fell back. Jaune looked where the sound came from and it was Ruby who was lying on the floor aiming at Violet with her sniper rifle. Ruby waited for the best moment for her to use her sniper rifle and it came. The round was a rubber bullet intended to knock Violet unconscious which worked perfectly. All that was left was Light who remained invisible, but Jaune had no problem sensing Light's presence.

Jaune used his black flames to burn away at the rope that tied him in order to escape. However, Jaune was immediately kicked in the face by Light who was still invisible. Jaune managed to get out and was finally able to fight back no problem. He ran towards his sword and hastily picked up Crocea Mors to slash at Light. With each swing, he had trouble avoiding each attack, but alas he could not keep up. Jaune charged up his sword with Dark aura and unleashed it towards Light's direction. Light collapsed on his back and was now defeated. Jaune walked over to Light and stared at him.

"How could we lose? Oh well… we almost had you." Light said with a smirk.

"You never had me. I was merely practicing some new tricks I have created. It seems I got the results I wanted and I thank you and your team."

"W-what?"

"And also… tell your teammate Violet Von Vanquisher that her relative Jay is a much more competitive than her." Jaune said. He walked towards Blake to untie her and both went to pick up Ruby and Weiss and take them to the infirmary room. He was quickly stopped by Amber who said to place both of them on the floor and allow her to do something. He did what she said and Amber had begun healing Weiss and Ruby simultaneously. Ruby's bruises and scratches went away much faster than Weiss due to her ring and got back up on her feet.

"That match was… something." Ruby said, placing her hand on the back of her head.

"It sure was. Hopefully now they will know not to mess with us." Weiss said.

"Jaune… were you really holding back?" Blake asked.

"I was." Jaune said.

 **Here's Chapter 15 everyone. I hope you enjoy it and continue reading future chapters. I guess i'll take this time to tell you a little bit about team VILT and what gave me the idea to create them. I'll start off with Violet. The idea of Violet came from the Fate series Bazette. Since Bazette seems proficient in hand to hand combat, that gave me the idea of adding her to the story and have some sort of connection with Jay since he too is proficient in the same category.**

 **Iris is based off of the messenger of the gods in Greek Mythology. Iris isn't just one specific color, but many colors. That's one of the many reasons why she isn't just purple. I read a little bit about how Iris gave a gift to Nereid Thetis who then gave it to her son Achilles. This gave me the idea of Iris and Pyrrha being friend prior to her coming to Beacon.**

 **Light is a character that I also thought of due to the fact that Light isn't just a single color. That would give me the idea of pairing him and Iris together. Not much thought went into Light, but when I was thinking about an appearance, Light Yagami from death note came into my mind.**

 **Last but certainly not least Tyrian. Tyrian is the color purple and what gave me the idea of making his semblance into Electricity that enhances his strength and speed was the Fourth Raikage from Naruto Shippuden. I didn't think too much when creating him but this allowed me to create a team which would allow me to showcase some of the team's strength.**

 **FUN FACT: Jaune's black flames is also inspired from Sasuke's Amaterasu which I really liked.**

 **Well that's all I wanted to say. I'll see you all later.**


	16. Chapter 16 - Questionable Night

**Chapter 16 – Questionable Night**

"If you could have beaten them a lot quicker without any of us getting hurt, why didn't you just do it?" Weiss asked.

"If I had taken the fight seriously, we would have never seen how well we could work together. I wanted to see whether or not our combination of attacks would work fine in a real battle scenario outside of training. I can see now that it somewhat works, but it can still be better." Jaune said, eating his meal.

"So is there anything else you want to tell us before we leave to the police department?" Amber asked.

"Actually, I have one question in mind, but that can wait for later. Right now, our number one priority is to find information about Roy." The teams had left into the city and grab something to eat since they were stopped by team VILT. The sun was about to set and this was the perfect time for the teams to start their search for Roy. They cleaned up and left towards the East side of Mistral to get information on Roy's whereabouts. The two teams separated and went their own ways once they reached the area. Amber, Winter, Ruby and Neptune went towards the police department to download any information they could possibly get about Roy and ask a few questions to the people inside while they are there. They entered inside and informed the chief about their reasons for being there. The chief allowed them to download any information they had about Roy Carver and allowed them to question some of the inmates or law enforcement officials inside.

"See I told you the chief is cool with me." Neptune said, smirking at Winter.

"Let's just get the information and get out of here as soon as possible." Ruby said.

"What's the hurry? We have plenty of time to kill." Amber asked.

"I want to meet up with Jaune before the day ends."

"You really like him don't you?" Amber asked.

"I do…" The team went towards the computer and looked over Roy's records and history. While they were downloading the information they went over a few of them while they were there.

"Roy's a Faunus that was born here in Mistral." Neptune said.

"It says here he has relatives living here in Mistral and hasn't made any commotion about a month now. The last crime he committed here was in June of last month."

"What was the crime?" Winter asked.

"The crime was… breaking and entering."

"Entering what?" Ruby asked.

"Entering a facility located near the forest in Mistral."

"I expected a bigger crime. Had the investigators found any reasons why Roy broke inside?" Winter asked.

"No they haven't found anything, but it says here that he is a former White Fang member that deserted the group about two months ago. The information they gathered happened when they charged him for breaking and entering."

"I would understand why he would enter a home, but a facility?" Amber asked.

"Whatever it is, nothing good can come out of it. Anything else?" Winter asked

"Nothing that we already know. 20 years old, Faunus, has relatives living in the kingdom and doesn't own a home. Seems like he lives in motels and tends to move around time after time."

"Let's go question the inmates then." Winter said as she walked where they were being kept. The first inmate they questioned used to be bunk buddies with Roy. Roy would tell him stories about what he did when he was part of the White Fang. The inmate decided to answer a few of their questions since he had nothing better to do.

"Roy told me that he left because the group ended up doing things he didn't want to do. Such as killing innocent people, stealing, and kidnapping. It wasn't long until he became the victim."

"Victim? I thought the group worked together and not attack each other." Winter said.

"Well that's not the case. He told me that the criminal Torchwick ended up working together with the terrorist group. Soon after, a man named Rhett joined too and it wasn't until a month and a half ago he was lured towards a trap."

"What happened to him?" Ruby asked.

"He didn't say, but he did say that they were working on a top secret project that was located here at Mistral. The only thing he told me about this project is that it could help the terrorist group's cause."

"Anything else?" Amber asked.

"No. That's all he said."

"Thanks for the information. You're saving a lot of lives by telling us this." Amber said.

"I don't really care about whose life I save. I'm only doing this because I was promised I would be let out early."

"I see. Well thanks for the information anyways… Mantis." Amber and the team continued their investigation and continued along with the other inmates and law enforcement officials until there were no longer anyone to ask. With the information they gathered, they could not stop wondering what Rhett, the White Fang, and Torchwick up to.

* * *

Newfound Love

"A club!?" Weiss yelled. Her face was blushing at the thought of her potentially dancing with Jaune.

"This is usually where you can find any if not all the information you need about certain criminals or dangerous groups. Not only that, but this would be the perfect to distribute drugs." Jaune said.

"Then why haven't the officers cracked down on this place?" Weiss asked.

"Because law enforcement gave up on this part of the kingdom. They would only help when a crime is being committed. They don't put the extra effort in cracking down places like this that hold drugs, criminals, and possibly weapons. To them, this is a vital source of income to this city that is keeping them afloat and not being a complete hell hole." Sun said.

"In any case… we're here for information and I will be the only one doing the talking whereas the three of you act normal, but keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious. You will get my back if anything goes down. These are earpieces that will allow us to communicate with each other without having to use our phones or sticking close by together." Jaune said, pointing to the earpieces.

"Hey wait a minute…" Weiss said.

"I don't know what to do in this type of situation. How about I stay with you Jaune? This is my first time ever being inside a dance club." Weiss said. Feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Alright that's fine, but as long you stick close by me. I don't want you getting lost now do I?"

"Hey! What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Jaune said, laughing silently to avoid getting Weiss upset. Jaune handed out fake I.D's to each of them and pulled his hoody over his head to avoid his face from being seen and entered the club. They successfully entered inside with no problems at all compared to the last time Jaune was near a club. Once inside, the team dispersed to avoid any unwanted attention and acted as if they didn't know each other. Jaune grabbed Weiss's hand as if they were a couple and headed towards the bar.

"Hey what's the big idea?" Weiss asked. Her face even more red compared to before.

"Relax. We need to look like a couple rather than two strangers just walking around doing nothing." Jaune said.

"Oh… okay." The two made their way to the bar passing by the overcrowded dance floor which was hard getting through.

"What will you have?" the bartender asked.

"We'll have a Margarita." Jaune said.

"Two Margaritas coming right up."

"Jaune… I don't drink." Weiss whispered, next to Jaune's ear.

"Neither do I, but I have to make this seem normal as possible." After a while of waiting, the bartender came by and placed their drinks in front of them.

"So how long have you been working here?" Jaune asked as he casually drank his Margarita. Weiss stared at Jaune as he drank and looked down on her drink and was deciding whether or not she should do the same.

"I've been working here for about 5 years and let me tell you, the people that come by here are really something." After deciding whether or not to drink the Margarita, Weiss sipped the drink and tried her hardest not to throw up at the taste.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Can't say. It's something that you kids shouldn't bother knowing." The bartender asked as he stared at the two with a serious look.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Jaune said, slipping money in front of the bartender.

"Surely you can tell us something right?" The bartender smiled and decided to tell them more about what he meant.

"Well you see, as of late, there has been a large number of Faunus which I have no doubt to be part of the White Fang passing by here."

"Why is that?" Weiss asked as she continued drinking her 2nd Margarita.

"Well they kept asking our employees about this Faunus who was named… Roy."

"Do you know why?" Jaune asked

"I don't know. I seem to have forgotten." The bartender said, signaling Jaune that a bit more money can refresh his mind. Jaune agreed to his deal and slipped more money towards him.

"Roy is a buddy of mine and I know that you two aren't the bad people looking for him so I'll tell you. He says that they're after him because the White Fang do not tolerate traitors."

"Traitors?" Jaune asked.

"Yes. Roy and his friend Tukson left the organization because they hated how the group turned out to be due to the change of command. When Roy heard about his friend Tukson, Roy knew that they would be going for him next."

"Did the White Fang members ever find him?" Jaune asked.

"Luckily they haven't."

"You wouldn't mind telling us where Roy could be?"

"Now I know I may seem like a bad guy who takes money in exchange for information, but Roy's a friend and I wouldn't sell him out for anything."

"It's good to see that there are still people out there watching out for their friends." Jaune said.

"Is there anything else I can help you or your drunk date with?" The bartender stared at Weiss who apparently ordered more than two drinks while they were talking.

"Wow." Jaune said.

"No that will be all. Thanks for your help uh."

"Oliver. The name's Oliver." Jaune thanked Oliver and helped Weiss up from her seat and helped her walk towards the exit.

"You two were talking for about an hour already." Weiss said as she looked at her phone.

"Was it really that long?" Jaune asked.

"Yes it was… oh… I shouldn't have drunk too much."

"I thought you said you didn't drink?"

"And I thought you said I had to look normal."

"Touché" Jaune communicated with Blake and Sun through the earpiece and told them to meet him and Weiss outside of the club. They agreed and headed towards the exit while Jaune helped Weiss out. From the corner of his eye, Jaune saw Torchwick heading his way and had to do something quick or else he would be seen. He grabbed Weiss and pushed her against the wall.

"Hey what's the big ide…" Weiss was cut off by the contact of Jaune's lips. The two were now making out against the wall to avoid detection from Torchwick. Weiss didn't struggle and allowed Jaune to do what he wished. She noticed that Jaune wasn't using his tongue and decided to take the initiative. Jaune didn't expect this and allowed her to do what she wished for the sake of not being seen. Torchwick accidentally bumped into Jaune from behind, but continued walking, not looking back. Although Torchwick had left, the two still continued exploring each other's mouth, not giving a care in the world of what is happening behind them. After a while of making out, things got more intimate and the desire for one another grew. Jaune quickly pulled away his hand from Weiss's butt and pushed himself away from her.

"We uh… we should get going. We got what we came for and Blake and Sun are waiting outside." Jaune said, blushing and looking away from Weiss.

"Yeah… we should." Weiss said, mimicking Jaune. The two headed towards the exit and met up with Blake and Sun.

"Why were you guys taking so long?" Sun asked.

"We… uh… had" Jaune tried desperately to come up with something.

"Jaune was just helping me get to the exit. I had a little too much to drink tonight." Weiss said. Feeling a bit embarrassed of what happened inside the club.

"You're drunk? Since when do you drink?" Blake asked.

"Since today."

"I'll call the other team and let them know to meet us back at Haven Academy." Sun said.

* * *

One's Desire

"To think that my younger sibling is drinking is unbelievable. What's to stop me from calling father and telling him about this?" Winter asked, angry at the look of a drunk Weiss.

"It's not her fault Winter, it's mine. I'm the one who pressured into doing this because we would have looked suspicious when we were asking questions to the bartender." Jaune said.

"If it was for the sake of the mission, then it's fine. However, I condone you from drinking ever again until you reached the appropriate age."

"Yes Winter."

"Now what did you manage to find?" Amber asked.

"I found information about some White Fang members looking for Roy here at Mistral. The White Fang are tying up loose ends just like Tukson back at Vale. Not only that, but Torchwick is here too." Jaune said.

"Torchwick!? What is he doing here?" Winter asked.

"I don't know. I've been calling Jay on the way here, but he hasn't answered his phone. He could possibly be asleep. Luckily, I managed to place a tracker on him when he bumped into me while I was ki- keeping Weiss from falling down."

"How did he not manage to see you?" Ruby asked.

"I had my hoody on… luckily."

"This is great news. I can call General Ironwood about this and he could send troops over here to arrest Roman." Winter said as she begun dialing Ironwood.

"No! Don't!" Jaune said, grabbing Winter's phone and ending the call.

"If you bring Ironwood and his troops, it will look threatening to the people here at Mistral. With the accident that happened back at Beacon, it will undoubtedly make things worse. It would be best if we handled this problem ourselves."

"Well what do you suggest we do Amber?" Ruby asked.

"As the leader of this mission, it would be best if we call Professor Ozpin and tell him what has transpired. He'll know what to do. We'll call him first thing in the morning." Both teams shared the information they have gathered and decided that it would be best to formulate a plan tomorrow since it was already getting late. They dispersed to their rooms and fell asleep. Jaune stayed up, formulating a plan that he can put into play for tomorrow morning.

 _"_ _If Roy did leave the group, then he must be on our side. Whatever this facility is, it's most likely something to investigate. The fact that Torchwick is also here means that he is also connected to this facility. Wait a minute… back at Roland Village, I recall hearing something about Rhett managing to steal the Dark power from someone. He said that he planned to transfer it on to someone. Is it possible that the person Rhett was talking about is being kept in the facility that Roy broke into? In any case, if the person is indeed in there, I'm going to need to take him out alone. I can't risk endangering my teammates. I can handle this myself."_ Jaune thought. He walked over to his scroll and viewed a map of Mistral and zooming in the facility where Roy had entered. The location was near a forested mountain that was at the outskirts of the kingdom. He carefully looked over the rest of the information and analyzed every bit of detail.

 _"_ _The people that were kidnapped, they were being used as Guinea Pigs for their experiment. They were trying to perfect the transferring of Dark aura to other people. It seems when they perfected the ability to transfer the aura they no longer needed people, but why are there still people going missing? I have an idea of what Torchwick and Adam want to achieve, but what does Rhett get in all this? What is he after?"_ Jaune fell asleep with this thought in his mind. Hours later, he was awoken by the sound of his door opening. Jaune quickly got up and grabbed his sword and held it tightly as he called out the person who opened it. It was Weiss who entered his room.

"Weiss? You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Oh shut up you dunce. I couldn't sleep and I'm here to talk to you."

"Talk to me about what?" Weiss walked closer to Jaune and sat next to his bed.

"About what had happened earlier today." Weiss said, looking down on the bed with a shy look on her face.

"Oh… that. Let's just forget about it okay. I was just trying to avoid us from being seen by Torchwick that's all." Jaune said, looking away from Weiss.

"That's what you wanted to do, but something entirely came out of it. Jaune when you kissed me… everything seemed peaceful and calm. I've never felt this way before my entire life."

"No. No you can't do this. You shouldn't catch feelings for me. Not at a time like this." Jaune said, getting closer to Weiss.

"I… I did. To think I'm starting to fall for someone like you."

"What about Neptune? You still have him. Surely you still must have feelings for him."

"It's nothing compared to you. The feeling that I got when you held my hand was something that I have never felt from Neptune. I know you probably don't feel the same way now, but I just came here to tell you how I feel so that I can hopefully sleep soundly." Weiss got up and walked towards the door to leave, but was grabbed by Jaune's hand.

"I… I felt the same way a long time ago. I would be lying if I said I no longer feel the same way towards you, but I don't know whether or not I should allow myself to love someone again. I need time to think about this and I want you to know… I don't want to hurt neither you nor Ruby." Jaune said.

"It's fine Jaune… take as long as you want." Jaune let Weiss's hand go and she left the room. Jaune returned to his bed and now had something more to worry about.

"Why did this have to happen now?"

 **Here is another Chapter everyone. Took me a bit of thinking because I was determining whether or not Weiss and Jaune should have done something more romantic towards the end of the chapter. You know, a little more hot stuff. It took me about an hour deciding whether or not I should jump that cliff, but I decided not to. Hate it, Love it, what is done is done. If you don't mind that extra hot stuff in the romantic parts of this story then you know what to do... I hope. I'll see you all later.**


	17. Chapter 17 - The Worth Of A Life

**Chapter 17 – The Worth of a Life**

The next morning, Jaune woke up at exactly 4:00 am, two hours earlier than he did the previous day. Events that had happened last night caused him to have a rough time getting a comfortable restful sleep. Jaune opened his scroll and looked at Torchwick's location. Currently, he was further away from where he was last night and further away from the facility. Jaune looked at the address where Torchwick was at and looked through some street pictures taken from months ago. He then looked up what kind of facility Roy had broken into and found out that the facility was a medical research facility owned by the government of Mistral.

 _"_ _There's no way the government of Mistral would partner themselves with Adam and the others. There has to be someone working there that is also working for Adam, but who? I can't cross out the possibility of Torchwick involved in this, but Jay would have told me if Torchwick was up to something like this in these parts. There has to be something that I missed._

Jaune went to the facility's website and luckily found a section where every person working the facility is listed along with a photo of them that was free for the public to see. Jaune looked over each name and picture carefully and only managed to find a few Faunus working there. He download the Faunus's names and picture and decided it would be best to confront Torchwick before heading to the facility since Torchwick could easily leave at any given time. Jaune took the time to think carefully whether or not he should take the team with him. He was confident that his team can easily handle Torchwick with no problem at all since Jaune had a Fall Maiden on their side and Weiss's sister who seems capable of handling things with no problem. Jaune looked at the time and decided to lie back down on his bed and turn on the television to watch the news to kill some time until his team woke up.

"That's right Crystal. Law enforcement officers are currently negotiating with the gunmen that are currently inside the Dust store here at Monica street. You can clearly see law enforcement in every corner and are currently waiting for the SRT (Special Remnant Tacticians) to come and help with the situation." Jaune looked towards the T.V and was now interested of what was going on. There have been stories about the Special Remnant Tacticians over the years. They aren't tied to a single government or kingdom. They are more of a private organization comprised of top quality Huntsmen and Huntresses that are world renowned by their abilities in the battlefield. Any kingdom can hire them for any purpose as long as it's legal and doesn't violate any laws within the kingdom or city.

"We have received word from Law Enforcement that the gunmen are comprised of five of the most wanted criminals of Mistral. Almond Cross also known as Big Al and Maurice Bleu are two of the five gunmen inside. The others are yet to be identified, but law enforcement is working hard to bring you the information." Jaune decided to help the Law enforcement out with their problem since he had plenty of time on his hands. The location wasn't far and he could easily get there within minutes. He wore his black outfit that he had brought to the trip and used his aura to create his black Grimm mask. He placed his black hoodie over his head and went towards the destination. Within minutes, Jaune arrived onto the scene and looked at all the cops that surrounded the store. Jaune was on top of an apartment building and scanned the store for a possible way to enter without alerting the officers. Before he could come up with a way to enter, a red hooded stranger was seen across from him on top of another complex. The hooded stranger jumped roof to roof and entered inside the store's rooftop. Jaune immediately joined him by distracting the cops by sending a black orb towards a window nearby to catch their attention. Jaune then used his aura to boost jump across the street and onto the rooftop. Upon making it onto the roof, Jaune turned around and noticed a black armored van coming towards his way. He knew that he is going to need to act quickly before the SRT arrived. He then entered the building and quietly made his way to the first floor. Upon arriving, he heard gunshots ringing inside and had to immediately run. Upon reaching the bottom floor, he saw the hooded man already engaging in battle with the criminals. Jaune jumped towards them and used Crocea Mors to stop an attack from one of the criminals that were about to hit the hooded individual. The stranger took notice of Jaune's help and decided it would be better if he were to work together. Jaune and the hooded man were both now helping one another to avoid getting killed in the store. Jaune sliced away the shots that were flying towards and ran towards Big Al. Jaune used his leg to sweep Ale off the floor and onto his back, allowing Jaune to knock him out unconscious. The hooded stranger drew his bow and arrow and sent multiple arrows towards two of the criminals that had guns drawn towards him and Jaune. The arrows impacted the men's arms and legs causing them to drop their guns and collapse onto the floor. Jaune turned around and used his black portal semblance to prevent the dust rounds from hitting him. Jaune looked towards the hooded man and saw how accurately he was able to hit the criminal's gun away in less than a second. Jaune also noticed that the man's hood had holes on them that revealed two animal ears. The closest thing that Jaune could think of were canine ears since that is what it looked like to him. It was at this moment Jaune remembered a Faunus with canine ears and that Faunus was Roy. Jaune called out his name and Roy turned around with a surprised look on his face. Before he could respond, an explosion was heard above them and the ceiling came falling down on them. They were both fine, but 4 other individuals were seen around them and the criminals. Jaune knew he had to get out of there quick or else he could potentially become an international wanted man. He looked towards Roy's position and saw him pull out two smoke grenades and tossed them in front and behind him. The whole place was covered in smoke and the two used the opportunity to retreat towards the 3rd floor and make their escape. Roy signaled Jaune to follow him and both ran up the stairs and onto the 3rd floor only to see cops waiting for them there. Jaune signaled Roy to stand back and swung his sword to release a crescent black aura that shattered a wall next to them. The officers began to shoot at Jaune and Roy, but Jaune was able to slash through the few rounds that were going to hit them as they jumped off the building. Both were able to get out of there unscathed and jump roof to roof to freedom. Once they were far enough and knew they were not being followed, Roy drew his bow towards Jaune, but Jaune was able to draw his sword and aim it next to Roy's neck and both were now in a standstill.

"How do you know my name?" Roy asked.

"Relax… I'm not here to hurt you. I just wanted to ask a few questions, that's all." Jaune said.

"Then why do you have your sword aimed near my neck?"

"The same reason why you have your bow and arrow aimed at my head." The two slowly lowered their weapons and now felt at ease for the moment.

"What is it that you want to know?" Roy asked.

"I'm here on a mission to ask you where Adam Taurus is located. However, certain circumstances have led me to believe that you might need my help."

"I don't need help alright? I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." Roy said.

"Did you do that yourself?" Jaune asked. He looked at the scar Roy had in his right cheek and the face Roy made after he asked that question concerned him a bit.

"N-no…" Roy said.

"Listen… I have done a bit of research on you and did a little investigating to find out that you were once a member of the White Fang. I was told you left about a month ago and have been in hiding all this time, but it seems that's not the case."

"I decided to help out this city since it's already run down as it is. Law enforcement here seems to not care what happens here, but when a big well know criminal arrives here and makes commotion, they are swarming here to collect that big reward for finding and capturing him. This world is already screwed as it is thanks to Humans and Faunus. I'm just trying to make it a bit better."

"What do you mean by Humans and Faunus? The world is nowhere close to being screwed."

"Look around you. The news mostly consists of Humans and Faunus killing one another or even their own kind. How many times do you hear about Grimm attacks on the news? How many times do hear about Grimm killing people? The problem isn't the creatures of Grimm. It's the humans and Faunus that are living in this world. The accident in Vale where White Fang soldiers and Grimm attacked… the attack wasn't accidental and everyone in Remnant already knew it was planned. It was done by my own kind because of the individuals who are leading them the wrong way. That's one of the many reasons why I left the White Fang. I understand that the way they are running things now seem to work, but they seek something worse than equality, something that the previous leader did not want. They are planning on making Humans pay for mistreating Faunus the wrong way. Not just the ones who did mistreat them, but every Human on Remnant. I sometimes feel like I'm the only one who is actually trying to make this world a better place and it's becoming tiring and it seems whatever I do… it's worthless." This made Jaune think about the way he looked at Remnant from a different perspective. He noticed that all he had learned in Beacon was how to stop or kill Grimm. That's all they ever taught, yet the real problem are human and Faunus. He also felt the same way Roy did whenever he completed missions from the school over the months. However, Jaune could only hear the same words run through his mind.

 _"_ _Life is meant to be hard time to time, but you can't let that stop you from achieving your dreams."_ Ruby's words kept repeating in his head.

"Life is meant to be hard time to time, but you can't let that stop you from achieving your dreams." Jaune said.

"I was caught in the crossfire back at Beacon. I am a student from there and on that day I lost someone precious to me by the hands of the White Fang. From that point all I ever thought about was revenge and I managed to get my revenge months ago. However, when I killed her… I still felt empty inside and I desperately wanted something to fill that void yet… it's still there. I use it as a constant reminder to remind myself why I'm still walking on this world and that reminder… is to stop this world from turning into ashes." Jaune walked over to Roy and place his hand onto his shoulder.

"You and I aren't the only ones who are trying their best to make this a better place. There are Humans and Faunus who are going through the same thing and at least one of them is attempting their best to turn this around. We can't give up on humans and Faunus just yet. We need to continue moving forward, no matter how bad things get because even though the future is Dark, we can ascend from it… together."

"You're right." Roy looked towards Jaune and placed his hand on Jaune's shoulder.

"We aren't the only ones fighting for a better world. We need to keep walking, no matter what pain we must endure. To prevent any other Human or Faunus to meet the same fate as we did

"That's right Roy. Someone close told me not to give up. That's what I intend to do." Jaune said as he shook Roy's hands as a sign of friendship.

"I can tell you where Adam is going to be. He is going to be visiting the Medical Facility a week from now to see the progress of his secret project. They're saying that their first move will ignite the Great War."

"WHAT!? Hold on… another Great War?"

"If that's true… we need to act fast to stop this from happening no matter what."

"That's the problem. I don't know what exactly they are going to do that will cause the Great War."

"I found information about the possibility of people being experimented on in that facility. I was in a mission long ago where I overheard Adam, Torchwick, and a scientist named Rhett who were planning to use a very rare Dark aura against a woman who was really powerful."

"R-Rhett? You need to stay away from him. H-he is a crazy psychotic lunatic who gets off from torturing people."

"I realized that when I had a little mission back at Vale."

"He is the reason why I have this scar on my face. I don't know if you know this from doing your small investigation, but I was used as a Guinea pig for one of these disgusting experiments. Unlike the others, I was kept longer because I had the potential for becoming a potential host for this aura that you were talking about. It wasn't until a month after being tortured I managed to escape. I can't say the same for the other people who went their own separate way when I left."

"The only thing we can do now is try to stop this Great War from happening. When they were talking about this Dark power, I heard that they managed to successfully transfer it to another person, but that was months ago. Who knows what they're capable of doing now."

"The perfect place to that kind of thing would be in the medical facility, but there are many surveillance cameras surrounded in the inside and outside of the structure. I know someone who specializes in these types of things, but it takes a while for me to get into contact with him and we still need to form a plan."

"It's fine. I don't have a schedule to stick to so we can meet up again in 2 days so that we can properly formulate a plan. I have my team here with me so it should be much easier of going in there with just the two of us." The two exchanged each other's phone number and went their separate ways. Jaune headed back to the academy and went straight to his room. Upon arriving, he dissolved his mask and immediately fell asleep on his bed after stressful morning.

* * *

The Enemy of my Enemy is My Friend

The sounds of the door knocking awoke Jaune. He looked at the clock and noticed it was 2 pm already. He quickly got up and looked at his scroll to see whether or not Torchwick had left. Luckily for Jaune he didn't. Jaune quickly got up from his bed and went to open the door without realizing that he wasn't wearing his jeans. The visitors were Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Amber, and Winter. Their eyes were now glued below Jaune's waist and it wasn't until he saw what they were looking that he slammed the door shut and went to put on his Jeans. He then walked back to the door and opened it, allowing the five ladies into his room.

"So Jaune… do you always open doors for people without wearing any pants on?" Amber asked.

"NO! I forgot to put something on okay! It's something that happens to everyone once in a while."

"Well you can open your door like that anytime I knock." Ruby said.

"That's something I would expect from Yang Ruby." Weiss said. Ruby, still looking at Jaune with a seductive look on her face.

"Anyways… Torchwick is still here in Mistral and he is a bit far from here. We should leave now so that we can catch him before sunset."

"What about Roy? We still need to look for him. I suggest we split the teams up so that it can be much easier and quicker to do." Weiss stated.

"That won't be necessary. I already found Roy and he told me everything I needed to know." Jaune said as he walked towards his bed to grab his sword.

"You found Roy already? When do you find him?" Blake asked.

"Pure luck." Jaune said.

"In any case, something big is coming our way and if we can get Torchwick, we could probably stop it."

"And what exactly is coming our way?" Amber asked.

"Possibly… another Great War." Jaune said. After explaining what the White Fang were planning, they were now worried whether or not they would be able to stop it. They knew they had to act fast if they were to foil their plans so they hurried towards Torchwick's location along with Sun and Neptune. Upon reaching the destination they formulated a plan to prevent Torchwick from escaping. They entered the building and saw Torchwick looking over a map along with Neo sitting at a chair patiently.

"I was wondering whether or not you kids were going to show up." Torchwick said as he turned around and smiled at them with open arms.

"Wait… how do you know that…" Jaune was cut off before he could finish his sentence.

"Do you really think a hoody and smooching Ms. Snowflake over there was going to prevent me from noticing either of you?"

"Smooching!?" Everyone yelled.

"Oh… they weren't supposed to hear that?" Torchwick asked. Jaune and Weiss's face instantly turned red and couldn't look towards their team due to the fear of them doing something rash. Luckily for Jaune and Weiss, Ruby was stopped by Amber who had her by the shoulders.

"It's a long story and I can explain after we stop Torchwick." Jaune said.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa… calm down there kid. We're both in the same team here."

"What the hell are you talking about? It's obvious that you're working with Adam and Rhett. You're here to see the project that you guys were working on that would allow you to successfully transfer Dark aura onto different people. I already know everything there is to know." Jaune said.

"That's where you are wrong kid. I broke apart from them thanks to you killing Cinder."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"Cinder threatened us to work for her. I personally hated working with that annoying bitch, that psychotic blood thirsty man, and Mr. Anger issues Adam. Thanks to you I can finally go back to what I was doing. However, something came up that will harm my business if it's not taken care of."

"What exactly came up?" Jaune asked.

"I'm sure you overheard our chatter back at Roland Village right? Well, Adam and Rhett are still working together on that project. Adam tends to use that in order to bring about a war in which he will have an edge in."

"But that's not possible. The kingdoms wouldn't allow it and would easily defeat him in this small little war he has planned and even though he has one person with the Dark power, that will not be enough to fight all the kingdoms." Winter stated.

"However, it will work if each Kingdom becomes too busy fighting among each other." Torchwick said.

"They're planning to turn each kingdom against each other?" Winter asked.

"Another Great War which the White Fang will use to the Dark power to their advantage… after a kingdom claims victory after a tiresome battle. The kingdom would already be vulnerable to any other attack and this would allow the White Fang to move in quickly and defeat them in a short amount of time with no problem at all." Jaune said.

"Exactly and if that happens, then they would obviously do something terrible to us Humans even though some were kind to Faunus." Torchwick said.

"Dammit. This is something we need to warn the other kingdoms about." Ruby said.

"That's not going to work." Blake said.

"What do you mean? Of course it will work."

"Mistral and Vacuole no longer trust Atlas and probably the government of Vale doesn't either. The only reason why they are still talking to one another is because they know the last thing they want is to provoke another Great War. If we were to tell them what was going on, I doubt they would believe us." Blake said

"What's to say that you won't betray us and lead us to a trap?" Winter asked

"If I wanted to betray you I would have done it right now." The team needed to decide whether or not Torchwick should be trusted. They talked it over and after minutes of thinking, they decided that they had to allow Torchwick to join in order for them to stop a war that would kill millions of lives in Remnant.

"Fine… we'll work together for now, but when this is all over… we'll go back to tracking you down and make sure you end up behind bars." Jaune said.

"It's fine kiddo. Do what you need to do." Torchwick said as he lit his cigar. Jaune pulled out his phone and dialed Jay to ask him whether or not Torchwick has been doing anything shady as of late, but he did not answer.

"Torchwick, have you talked to Jay as of late?" Jaune asked.

"No I haven't. The last time I talked to that kid was about a week ago when I told him where he could find Rhett. With Rhett out of the way, I'm sure Adam will have a harder time handling this whole plan alone. That is why I told Jay Rhett's location so that he and his team could go capture him and interrogate him so that we could get info about any other plans Adam has in mind." Neo walked towards Torchwick and made an arm gesture, as if to say what was he thinking? Torchwick could easily understand what she was trying to say.

"Well he seemed like he could handle it himself against Rhett, Neo." All of a sudden, Jaune's phone rang and he immediately answered thinking it was Jay, but it turned out to be Yang. Jaune put the phone on speaker so that everyone in the room can listen in.

"Jaune! You have to come back to Beacon! Something has happened to Jay!" Yang said yelling and panicking over the phone. Yang's voice frightened Jaune and he could barely manage to calm himself down.

"Calm down Yang and tell me what exactly is going on." Jaune said

"It's Jay! He just called me and told me where exactly he was at and that he found out what Rhett was planning, but… he sounded like he was in trouble. H-h-he was out of breath and I could hear shootings! I told him that Ren, Nora and I could go over there and help him, but he told me to don't come here ourselves!" Yang yelled, in a worried tone.

"DAMMIT! Did he say what Rhett was planning?"

"No he couldn't finish because I heard a loud bang and the call ended! You need to come back to Beacon fast so that we can go get him!"

"Where did Jay say he was at?"

"He said he was East of Vacuo! Around the Ridgewell area!" Jaune had to think long and hard of what he was going to do.

"Jaune what's going on?" Amber asked

"Jay is in trouble. He went after Rhett and was overwhelmed. Yang told me where he is at and if we go right now to help him… we might be able to save him."

"We should go! I'm sure Amber, Winter, Sun, Neptune and Blake could handle things here." Ruby said.

"We need to think about the possibility of Jay already being dead." Weiss stated

"No that can't happen. Jay is strong enough to take care of himself. His phone probably got dropped when he tried to evade the enemies." Jaune said

"Can Neo teleport to Jay's location?" Weiss asked

"No she can't. She can only teleport away a few miles." Torchwick said.

 _"_ _I'm sure that Amber and Winter can handle it by themselves. Roy is also going to help them out as well as Neo and Torchwick, but should I trust those two? I don't know what to choose. Jay could probably be… dead"_ Jaune thought as many other possibilities went through his head.

 **Alright here is another decision you need to make to determine the outcome of the story.**

 **CHOICE A: Go save Jay in Vacuole and count on Winter, Amber, Neptune, Sun, and Blake to prevent Adam's plan here at Mistral from completing.**

 **CHOICE B: Stay here with everyone else and hope that Jay can handle the situation himself and focus more on the job at hand.**

 **You better think of all the negative and positive possibilities that could arise from choosing each option.**


	18. Chapter 18 - Night of the Living Dead

**Chapter 18 – Night of the Living Dead**

 **WARNING!**

 **The following chapter contains a torture part of the story which may find readers uneasy... maybe... I'm not that good at choosing the right words that fits, considering I've never done one. You've been warned...**

"Jaune… Jay could already be… dead." Blake said.

"It will take you about 3 hours just to make it to Jay's location and by the time you reach him… it could already be too late."

"Blake is right. The best thing we can do now is work together here and stop Adam's plan before things go horribly wrong." Weiss said.

"The mission at hand should always come first That's one of the things that is very important when you are a Huntsman." Winter said.

"Are you guys insane! He could still be alive if we get there as soon as possible Jaune!" Yang was heard yelling through the phone.

"Yang is right, we can still save Jay. There could be a sliver of chance that Jay could still be alive. You just have to trust him, he can't easily be beaten… you know that." Ruby said.

"Do what you think is the best choice for yourself Jaune." Amber said. Jaune had no choice, but to choose the logical choice. Thousands of lives for a single life or sacrifice that life for the thousands that could be saved.

"Yang… Blake and Weiss are right. There would be no reason why they would keep Jay alive and it would be make things complicated for them if they kept him around." Jaune said. He finally made up his mind and decided to stay here with the rest of the team to finish the job at hand.

"You guys are willing to sacrifice a friend who is need of help for a job that can be divided!? Are you all fucked in the head!?" Yang yelled through the phone as her voice startled everyone listening.

"Just stay there and wait for us to come back. We'll go…" Jaune was cut off by Yang's rage.

"I'm not staying anywhere! I'm going to Vacuo to save Jay! I'm not going to be like you, Blake, or Weiss… making the mission more important than your friends. If it was me that was captured… would you all agree to the same exact thing?" Everyone stood in silence and looked at each other. Neither one would ever think to leave a Yang behind considering they have been close friends since arriving to Beacon, but Jaune's thoughts were the opposite.

 _"_ _If the mission determined how many lives were in stake, I would make it more important than my friends. I now know that the world isn't only about me or my friends. There are tough decisions that I am going to need to make in order to bring about a more peaceful world. I'm sorry Jay, but this is the only thing that I can do that would make up for my decision."_ Even though these words went through his head, he can stop to think the connection he had with Jay. Jaune, Jay, and Ren became close friends to the point of considering one another as a brother and overtime, they enjoyed each other's company whenever they met up somewhere. They would constantly go out to the city and have a good time. However, this happened before Jaune was told about the mission he was on. He had completely forgotten about his revenge on the people who attacked Beacon. He was considering about Ruby's desire to be with him at his side, but the mission that he was tasked brought back all those deep dark emotions he once had during and after the incident. He no longer was the same student who first came to Beacon or the same student that forgot about the tragic moment in his life.

"I'm leaving to find Jay. If I'm the only one who is going, so be it." Yang said, ending the phone call with Jaune before he could respond.

"We can't let her go by herself." Blake said.

"I'll call Ren and tell him what happened and make sure he keeps her from leaving. For the meantime, Amber… you should call Ozpin and ask him what we should do about Adam's plan here." Jaune said. Jaune called Ren and told him what happened and he agreed to prevent Yang from going anywhere. Amber called Ozpin and told him what they discovered here at Mistral. Ozpin was now worried that this could ultimately cause a full scaled war amongst the kingdoms. He tasked the teams to stop the plan at all cost and to bring Adam alive. This was something Jaune didn't want to do. He wanted to kill Adam to make sure he wouldn't cause problems in the future, but all he can do now is nod his head in agreement.

"Torchwick, I suggest we come up with some sort of plan if we want to get into the structure without tripping any alarms." Jaune said.

"Neo can take out the security guards that are watching through the surveillance cameras since she can easily teleport inside."

"That's great, but don't kill anyone Neo… got it?" Neo made a gesture that allowed Jaune to understand that she will do as he asks.

"Well I already formed a plan that will guarantee our victory. This is what I came up with…" Torchwick said as he begun to explain what he had in mind. Everyone came to an agreement on their roles. Jaune immediately called Roy to tell him that they will no longer need someone to be in charge of the surveillance cameras since Neo had it covered. This allowed him to start the operation and meet outside the facility. An hour later after preparations they met outside the facility in the outskirts of Mistral. They went over the plan once more and started the operation. Roy pulled out a blueprint of the facility's structure and marked each area that had a camera with a marker. This allowed Neo to teleport to the camera's blind spots to avoid detection. Roy then marked the direction in which Amber, Jaune, Blake and Ruby would enter from in order to get inside the facility and look for anything that seems out of the ordinary. Winter, Weiss, Torchwick and Roy would then enter from the opposite side of the facility and enter through an elevator inside that they can use to get to the top floors and check each level out. Sun and Neptune stuck together and decided to look around the premises for anyone that might have not been knocked out unconscious. Everyone was given an earpiece to talk to one another and entered the premises with caution. Neo teleported her way towards the security room where it was thought to have visual on every surveillance camera from both inside and out of the structure. Luckily the room did indeed have the visual of all the cameras and made it simple for Neo to take out the guards.

"There should only be a few people left that are inside or outside the facility. Neptune and Sun keep your eyes peeled for anybody that are roaming around outside. The last thing we need is for the authorities to get involved." Amber said.

"No problem. Neptune and I have things covered here." Sun said. Amber looked back at Jaune and noticed he had a puzzled look on his face.

"What's the matter Jaune?"

"I learned to be able to sense people's aura from a one mile radius, but I can't sense anyone inside the facility and outside it."

"It seems you still need practice huh." Amber moved ahead while Jaune stopped for a second to think, but brushed it off.

"This is Winter, we've entered the facility and are now heading towards the 2nd floor. It appears that there are 2 bottom floors as well Amber. Should I split the team in two in order to cover more ground?" Winter asked.

"No, stay together, we have that covered. Just make sure everything from the top floor is cleared from suspicion.

* * *

The Familiar Face

 **Two Days Earlier…**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yang asked.

"I have to. This is the only way I can return back to my normal life. I can't stop to think that Rhett is still out there torturing other victims when I have the opportunity to end it. I would have asked the others to come along, but they already have something to worry about in Mistral." Jay said.

"Let me at least go with you. We both have been training our best and there is doubt that I am strong as you. We both would have a bigger chance of winning this together."

"I want to take you Yang, I really do, but if something were to happen to you there's no telling what Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Qrow would do to me."

"It doesn't matter. I don't want something to happen to you." Jay placed his hand on the back of Yang's head and pulled it towards him. Both were staring at each other's eyes which made them forget about the dangerous aspects that the trip will have.

"When I come back, I'll take you to that new ice cream store they opened by the ports." Jay said. Yang smiled and agreed to his offer as he pulled away from her forehead. Yang watched as Jay headed towards the city and took one last look at Yang which could potentially be the last time he will ever see her again.

 **One Day later…**

 ***RING* *RING* RING*** Jay's phone began to ring and this time it was Yang calling. Her picture appeared in front of his phone to signify who was calling.

"Who's the girl? You didn't tell me you fell in love with someone else." A familiar voice asked from the shadows of an old unkempt room that had a single window in it and had both old and fresh bloodstains. It was dark out and the only light shining that Jay had that allowed him to see was the one above him. Jay had his ankles tied together and his body tied down to a chair as well as handcuffed behind the chair. His face had cuts and bruises which showed signs of abuse, but he was still wide awake and witness what could possibly be the beginning of his never ending nightmare.

"Shut up Rhett! I'll make sure to kill you the slowest way possible!" Jay yelled as he tried to force his way out of the ropes and handcuffs, but it was useless.

"Calm down Jay. You are in no position to make threats considering the state you are in." Rhett swung his arm hitting Jay right across the face.

"Trying to remove these handcuffs with pure strength alone won't work. You see, the handcuff prevents any person to use their aura, but of course you should already know, since these are the same ones that your family created for Atlas many decades ago." Rhett said as he walked around the angered student who would be unable to defend himself from Rhett's attacks.

"What… Just what the hell do you want!? You torture innocent people for your own sick pleasure so why the hell would you be working for Adam and Torchwick? What's in it for you!?"

"You and your girlfriend really have something in common… you just don't like to shut up huh?" Rhett asked as he chuckled from something he remembered.

"SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER AS IF YOU EVEN KNEW HER!" Jay yelled. He begun to use every ounce of strength he had to force his way out the ropes and handcuff, but all he manage to do is fall to the side along with the wooden chair.

"Oh please James there is nothing you can do. Just like a year ago when you couldn't save your team and the person you loved."

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Rhett went down to the floor and whispered to him.

"Do you want to know what happened to them? I mean do you know what I did to them?"

"Don't… I'm begging you don't." Jay couldn't cover his ears from what Rhett was about to tell him. Rhett got back to his feet and wiped off the dirt off his knees.

"Well of course I started with your friend uh… what was his name… oh yeah, Dustin which by the way was a real smart ass. I made sure that girl uh… Ash I think her name was and his brother Ecru watched as I went to town on him. Now I started off by bashing him with a metal rod that was lying around. Now before I go deeper into that, you mentioned that I torture people for the sick pleasure of it. Now that's really not the case. I find it amusing how people tend to show their true colors once they are staring at the face of death. I guess that's one of the many reasons why preferred to do research that involves live test subjects. Now… let's go back to your teammate Dustin. After beating him for quite a while, I began to slash deep into his arms and legs making sure he was awake to feel the pain. I smacked him once more with the metal rod and that made him fall to the floor. I sat him back up to his chair and he was unconscious, but still breathing. His brother was really upset of what I was doing to him so I asked him… "What's with the long face? You should smile more often. It really helps you when you are feeling down buddy. " I grabbed my knife and I sliced the sides of his lips to form a smile." Jay at this point had his eyes closed and tried so hard to avoid listening to his gruesome story, but it was impossible to not listen.

"Of course I did all this for one sole purpose and that is to find that special person that had that special requirement, but he wasn't there Jay. I was already short in time so I grabbed my knife and stabbed that kid Dustin right in the heart, killing him instantly. Your girlfriend uh…. Ash? I think that was her name, began screaming for help. No one came of course so I grabbed the metal rod and swung it towards her stomach and chest repeatedly. She started coughing out blood and that made her stop crying and screaming like an annoying dog." Jay's eyes widened and it was filled with rage and no longer had control over his emotions and tried again to force his way out of his imprisonment.

"I thought I told you it was useless!" Rhett yelled as he begun to beat Jay repeatedly until he stopped struggling which he did minutes later. Jay was now covered with his own blood in his face and fractured bones all over his body.

"Now… where was I? Oh yeah… your girlfriend Ash. Well, when I killed your buddy Ecru, I could have sworn she said something about someone named Jay will kill me. Of course I asked her to speak up since the blood that she was coughing up was impairing her voice. She repeated the same thing again and I just laughed at what she said." Rhett had begun to laugh hysterically and all Jay could do was just watch.

"She told me that you were going to kill me. ME! HA! But the look on her eyes… her eyes intrigued me. Those eyes of her really gave me the impression that she was telling the truth. She honestly believed that to be 100 percent true. She believed you would come and kill me! I didn't believe at first, but when I heard your name back at Roland… when your friends tried to stop all of us, SHE WAS RIGHT! To think that would end up being true… well sort of. When she continued babbling about you killing me, I turned around I stab her in the throat and stared… straight into her eyes and do you want to guess what I said? I said… "Try saying that again." Rhett stared at Jay to see his reaction and the expression he got was what he had hoped to see. Jay's face was horrified and had tears streaming down his eyes. A man with a mask came in and informed Rhett about something that Jay couldn't hear quite well. The man exited the room and Rhett sighed which was a sign of someone displeased.

"Well it seems like something came up and story time will need to wait. I am needed at the moment, but I'm sure you'll be a good boy and not cause trouble here. I'll be back in a jiffy so don't you go anywhere." Rhett walked out of the room and locked the metal door from the outside and left. All Jay can do now is to wait and think of a way out. Jay looked around the room to find any cameras that could possibly be observing him and luckily there weren't any. Hours went by and Jay still wasn't able to get out from the ropes and handcuff, however, Jay noticed that every 2 hours someone would come in to the room to check on him so Jay took this to account every time he attempted to remove his restraints.

 **The Next Day…**

The next day arrived and Rhett hasn't returned and Jay managed to come up with a plan to remove his restraints. Inside his boot was a lock pick that he would always take with him in case of situations like this come up, but the problem is… how to grab it. Jay had been cutting the rope from behind using a small sharp object on the back of his pants that he managed to pull out. He has been cutting the rope since the day before and he managed to finally cut it loose. He got up from the chair and fell down to the floor due to the severe beating he received from Rhett. Luckily for Jay, no one heard him fall and he continued on trying to remove the remaining restraints he still had. Jay rolled back and managed to lower his hands underneath the back of his legs and feet in order for him to comfortably untie himself then grab the lock pick inside his boot. He grabbed the lock pick and begun to pick the handcuffs. It took several minutes, but he managed to do it and slowly get back onto his feet. He stumbled his way towards the metal door in order to escape, but it was locked. He looked towards the window and knew he could easily escape, but he had to find anything in the structure that could possibly reveal what Rhett is planning with Adam.

"20, 19, 18, 17…" Jay continued counting down and hid by the side of the metal door. Footsteps were heard coming and the door unlocked and a man walked into the room and noticed that Jay was gone. Jay quickly grabbed him and held him tightly by the neck, choking him so that he wouldn't yell for help. He loosened his grip and asked the man a series of questions.

"If you don't tell me what Rhett is planning I will be sure to snap your neck before you can even try to call for help."

"I-I-I don't know anything man. If you want answers, you can go to the room that is located in the end of the hallway to the left. That is where most of the planning goes on."

"How many people are inside the building?"

"I-I think it's about 15. Most of them are outside patrolling while a few are here inside."

"… alright then."

"P-Please don't kill me. I have a family to take care of. I needed the money plea… ***Snap*** " Jay had snapped the man's neck before he couldn't finish his sentence.

"This world doesn't need people like you." Jay said as he picked up the body and placed it onto the chair to make it seem as though Jay had never left.

 **An Hour Later…**

"I'm on the east side of Vacuo! By the Ridgewell area! Rhett and Adam are planning to-!" A grenade detonated by Jay, but he managed to make himself intangible. He was already low in aura so he couldn't make his phone intangible as well. The explosion knocked Jay's phone away and he couldn't go and grab it since many soldiers were running towards him. He ran to the opposite direction hoping he will find someone to help him, but found someone else who he couldn't believe to be there. He stopped and stared at the girl in front of him. He begun to breathe heavily as sweat dripped from his face. His mind couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was it a hallucination due to the loss of blood? Was it a figment of his imagination? Jay's pupils dilated and his body was shaking like an animal fearing for his life.

"Th-Th-That's not possible. You're supposed to be dead… you were dead."

"I died because you couldn't save me." The girl took a few steps ahead and stopped and pointed at him.

"Because you were and always will be too weak James."

"I-I-I'm sorry… Ash. I'm sorry I couldn't save you, but how… how are you alive!?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." Ash took her stance as she was about to attack Jay who was already tired and injured.

"This can't be real. This can't be real!"

"This is all real James and I'm going to show you what it feels like to wish you never met me." Ash ran towards Jay as he accepted the punishment he was about to receive for not being able to save her in time. Everything went dark when she punched Jay right across the face and he woke up to see him being dragged by Rhett.

"Where… where is she?"

"Who are you talking about boy?" Rhett asked.

"Ash…"

"I killed her remember?"

"I saw her… back in the woods."

"Is that what you did Emerald? You used your semblance to create an illusion of him seeing the girl he loved?" Jay looked behind him and saw a girl with emerald hair.

"Yeah. It was really pathetic the way he reacted, almost to the point where I felt bad for him."

"That's pretty cruel compared to me and people already think that I'm the devil itself." Rhett said as he slightly chuckled. Jay didn't know how to feel about what he saw. He wasn't sure if he was happy that it wasn't actually her who wanted to hurt Jay or sad that she wasn't actually alive.

"Where… where are you taking me?" Jay asked, barely managing to stay awake.

"We're going to Mistral of course. Your friends were seen over there and I can only guess that they're trying to stop thi plan of ours. We are going to show them what happens when they keep trying to stop us. They walked along a path that led to an open area by the sea. A helicopter was waiting there and from afar, Jay could see a grey haired boy who looked like the same age as Jay walk towards the group dragging a body from behind.

"So this is the girl that was causing trouble Mercury?" Rhett asked.

"Yeah she was a pretty difficult to fight compared to the Vytal festival match we had, but I managed… barely." Jay looked to see who the person was and saw long yellow hair. He couldn't get a clear look since everything seemed to be blurry and he was losing focus, but the only thought that could come to his mind was that it was Yang.

"No… let her go." Jay said as he tried to grab hold of Mercury's leg.

"Oh now I remember this girl. Isn't she the one who called you when I was about to share you the story? Things are getting more interesting by the second."

"What… what are you going to do?" Jay asked.

"Don't worry Jay, you'll see soon enough." Rhett said as he kicked the student unconscious.

* * *

The Return

"Jaune… what is this?" Ruby asked as they saw a massive reactor on the basement floor.

"I… I don't know. Whatever it is… it's something that definitely shouldn't be part of a medical facility." Jaune said. The ceilings of each floor above it had a round opening that reached all the way to the roof and what they were trying to figure out was the purpose of it. In the center of it was a black aura that looked like was being used as a catalyst.

"Roy… did you know about this reactor underneath the facility?" Jaune asked.

"No I didn't. I was arrested before I could even reach down there. What does it do exactly?"

"I don't know, but somethings feels familiar." Jaune looked at the contents inside it and froze for a few seconds.

"Jaune what's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Th-that's…"

"That's the aura that will lay this kingdom to ruins!" A voice was heard in the shadows.

"A-Adam!" Blake yelled.

"No it can't be. He isn't supposed to be here just yet." Amber said.

"That's true, but I was informed by Rhett that a bunch of children intend to stop what I am planning to do and that is something that I cannot allow." Adam walked out of the shadow and snapped his fingers which summoned a large number of White Fang soldiers out of the shadows and rooms.

 _"_ _There is no way Adam is supposed to be here. We still had a few more days to take out his plans, but why is he here early? Wait a minute… Is it possible that Jay told them where we went? He wouldn't just tell them unless… they were forcing him to by…"_ Jaune shook the dark thoughts out of his head and maintained his composure.

"No... that's not possible. I should have been able to sense all of the Faunus's aura." Jaune told the team.

"That's because this facility recently added a few adjustments which makes aura detection impossible to sense from inside and outside from the ground floors." Adam said.

"Neptune, Sun the White Fang expected us to be here. Go to Winter and make sure they are fine. The others and I can handle things down here." Jaune said over the earpiece quietly to avoid Adam from listening.

"Are you sure? Neptune can go topside and I can go help you."

"First go to Winter's team and if everything is fine you can join us over here, but you need to move now." Jaune conjured up his Dark aura and told the team to be ready.

"We already know what you are planning Adam and I can assure you it isn't going to work with me and Jaune here." Amber stated. Adam chuckled at the statement and gripped the handle of his Katana.

"If I didn't go along with the experiment, I would most likely lose in a confrontation like this, but unlike the last time when I fought that blonde kid… I will be the one that will be victorious."

"You're delusional Adam. Why do you continue doing this? Just stop while you still can. You can still achieve peace with humans if you stop forcing humans to accept Faunus through fear and violence." Blake said.

"No! You are wrong my darling, they can never accept us. The only way they can accept us is only if they are wiped off from the face of Remnant and that's what I plan to do!"

"Then I have no choice, but to stop you."

"You were once by my side Blake and when you left you betrayed not only me, but the Faunus across Remnant. I found someone else that believes in what we are going to do. How about you introduce yourself my dear?" The sound of footsteps were heard behind Jaune and the others and when they saw who it was, Jaune, Ruby and Blake could not believe what they were seeing.

"No no no no no no no… this can't be real… this can't be real." Jaune said as he took a step back from the direction he was facing.

"It is real Jaune." The girl said. Jaune, Ruby and Blake's body froze and time stopped for them which made it seem like they have been staring at the person for hours. Memories from the past flashed through their eyes.

"Pyrrha?"

 **Now there might be people who are upset of what I did towards the end or even in the middle since it was mostly about Jay. Well like I said before, there is a reason for all this occurring so bear with it if you can. As for the choice you were given before, Choice B won by 2 votes so this is road Jaune is going. I also want to apologize for not uploading a chapter last week. I had exams all week so I didn't have time to make one. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stick around for a while longer.**


	19. Chapter 19- Long Black Road

**Chapter 19 – Long Black Road**

"That can't be Pyrrha. Pyrrha died back at Beacon and we were there and confirmed that she was dead. No heartbeat, no pulse and not breathing." Blake said.

"Then explain to me… who am I looking at?" Jaune said. His arms were shaking and his sword that was held so tightly in front of him could not stay still.

"Well… we're needed elsewhere to witness a world event that will go down in history. I am certain that my troops will take care of things here, so I will be on my way. However, Blake… you're coming with me to witness this as well." Adam said. Before Blake could react, Pyrrha ran towards Blake, throwing her shield during the process towards Blake's legs which made her fall to the ground. Adam ran towards the exit and Jaune remained in his spot not moving an inch. Pyrrha used her Javelin to knock Ruby out of the way, but Ruby managed to stop the attack with her scythe. The Faunus troops rushed towards them and Amber had to quickly release a flow of electricity to stun a few of them whereas Ruby had to jump out of Amber's line of sight. Pyrrha used her shield to block the incoming attack and threw her Javelin towards Ruby's hood to pin her against a wall. Pyrrha then jumped towards Blake and used her shield to smash down on Blake, but Blake had used her semblance to leave behind an explosive clone that sent Pyrrha soaring away.

"Jaune! Go after Adam!" Ruby yelled. Jaune didn't move a muscle and it seemed as though he wasn't listening to her.

"JAUNE!" This time he turned to Ruby. He could not comprehend what was going on and was still frozen in fear.

"Jaune listen to me. That can't be Pyrrha. We are positive that she died back in Beacon. You need to snap out of it and catch Adam. If you don't want to fight that fake Pyrrha then we will, but we need you to go after Adam!" Jaune understood what she said and took a moment to regain his composure. Although he still felt uneasy, he ran passed everyone and headed towards Adam's direction. Pyrrha was pre occupied by Blake and Amber, but noticed where Jaune was heading. Pyrrha quickly got back up and used her semblance to retrieve her Javelin back and followed behind Jaune leaving the rest of Jaune's team to fight the White Fang soldiers. Ruby attempted to stop Pyrrha, but was stopped by an intimidating White Fang soldier who blocked the exit. Jaune made it outside and saw Adam get on an airship that was ready to leave. Jaune ran as fast as he could towards the airship and managed to get on the wing by plunging his sword inside the wing. Pyrrha followed behind and used her spear to get on the same wing next to him. The airship hovered in the sky and took off towards the nearby mountains with Jaune and Pyrrha on it. Pyrrha had no problem standing on the ship's wing thanks to her semblance, but Jaune on the other hand was having trouble staying steady.

"Dammit Pyrrha! Why are you doing this!?" After leaving the facility, Jaune could finally sense the aura's inside every person in the airship. Adam and Pyrrha's aura felt very familiar to his own and it was there when he finally realized what was going on. It would explain why Pyrrha's armor was a different color. He finally realized what Adam meant back in the facility about being not able to take out Jaune if they were to meet again. Both of them had a small fragment of the Darkness inside them and that would explain why Pyrrha is acting the way she is. However, Jaune could not explain why she was still alive.

"Listen to me Pyrrha! Don't let the Darkness inside you overpower you! You can control it and stop the things that it is making you do! You don't have to follow Adam's orders! I can help you! Please Pyrrha!" Pyrrha walked closer to Jaune as she readied her Javelin and pointed it towards Jaune's heart. Before she could deliver the killing blow, turbulence hit the airship and caused Pyrrha to lose her aim which allowed Jaune to get up and kick Pyrrha away. Pyrrha ran towards Jaune again and swung her Javelin violently at him, but Jaune was able to avoid all her attacks.

"Pyrrha please stop! I'm begging you!" Pyrrha disregarded what he said and continued her violent attacks. One of Pyrrha attacks went through the wing and managed to destroy one of the airships propellers which made the plane lose a bit of altitude. This gave Jaune an idea which he immediately put into play. He conjured up his black flames and hurled it towards the other airships propellers causing it to burn away. This caused the airship to lose altitude and descend to the ground. Jaune and Pyrrha held on tight as the ship crashed towards the side of the Mountain where the kingdom gets its water from. The ship was covered in flames and the possibility of anyone coming out alive was small. The flames had begun to spread through the forest, but Jaune stayed and tried to move all the rubble to find Pyrrha. He sensed someone approaching from behind and held Crocea Mors tightly in his hands as the two familiar auras were coming from Adam and Pyrrha.

"I think it's time we finish this bothersome fly. Don't you agree?" Adam asked Pyrrha. Jaune looked at Pyrrha's eyes and wondered where he went wrong.

"Adam… how is she alive. Before we settle this once and for all… the least you can do is tell me how you were able to revive her." Jaune said.

"I did my research about the Dark and I found out about the truth that lies within it. Man were originally born in Darkness and found their way out of it. The creatures of Grimm are prime examples of everyone's beginnings. Traces of the Darkness remain inside everyone, but overtime everyone forgot where they came from and soon forgot about it." Adam said. The forest continued to brighten the night sky and cover the surrounding areas with smoke which made it impossible for anybody to see from afar.

 _"_ _Why didn't Ozpin tell me? There could be more people who are able to use this power as well? Dammit Ozpin."_ Jaune thought.

"How the hell does that explain how Pyrrha is still alive!?" Jaune yelled.

"Everyone was born in Darkness… so why can't it also bring people back?" Adam asked. Jaune looked at Pyrrha as he noticed a small amount of Dark aura lingering around her body.

"I did my research on you Jaune Arc, where you were from, what school you attended, and the names of your teammates. When I found out Pyrrha Nikos was in your team, well, I had to use her for our experiment, but then I found out she died during the attack on beacon. However, I came up with an idea, an idea that could I use against you specifically. I learned that her body was sent back home and I went to go fetch it and bring it back to perform some experiments. How can we resist not using a young successful girl who is a world renowned fighter?" Adam said.

"You bastard." Jaune said silently.

"Although it did bring her back to life, if her Dark aura were to leave her body… it would return her to how she was when I got her… dead." Adam said. The fire continued to blaze through the forest and around them. Embers continued to fly around, singeing their clothing.

"You're only choice is to kill her if you want to stop me because in a few minutes I will be able to begin the destruction of the Human race." Adam placed his hand onto the handle of his katana and prepared himself for another battle against Jaune, but this time he has someone to help him. Pyrrha readied her Javelin and shield as she glared at Jaune with killing intent.

"And lucky for me… my new semblance will come in handy for our battle." Adam said. His Dark aura shrouded him and made Jaune a bit uneasy. Creatures of Grimm surrounded them and to Jaune's surprise, they stepped in front of Adam and Pyrrha and faced Jaune's direction. It was then Jaune figured out what Adam's semblance was. It was the ability to control or befriend the creatures of Grimm. Jaune held his sword tightly in front of him as several Ursi surrounded him. Jaune released his Dark aura and prepared himself for a battle that he knew could possibly be his last.

"Pyrrha please! Stop this nonsense! I didn't want you to die that night! It should have been me."  
Jaune yelled.

The Ursi ran towards Jaune and slashed at him, but Jaune was able to avoid each of their attacks and slash away at them. One came from behind hoping to catch Jaune off guard, but Jaune already felt the Ursa's presence behind him. He turned around and sliced the Grimm's entire arm off. He then proceeded to slice off its legs then its head. He looked back where Adam and Pyrrha stood. Jaune stared at Pyrrha's emerald eyes and pointed his weapon towards them.

"I don't care what happens to me. If I have to fight thousands to save you Pyrrha… I will and in the end… it will be me that will take the killing blow to save you. I will change the past to the way it was supposed to be and I will not stop until I do." Jaune said. He clenched the handle of his sword and pulled it closer to him.

 _"_ _Three Beowolfs, two Ursi, a King taijtu heading to my location, and a Nevermore flying overhead and it seems like Pyrrha and Adam are going to attack together with the creatures of Grimm. I'm going to need to time my attacks perfectly and make sure not to injure Pyrrha."_ Jaune planned everything in his head and began his counter attack. He sliced through the first Beowolf that ran towards him and slid underneath one of the Ursi which caused the other to accidentally hit the other. Jaune was now in front of both Adam and Pyrrha and kicked Pyrrha away from him. Adam quickly unsheathed his katana and sliced away at Jaune who was able to block every attack that was thrown at him. One of the Ursi turned around and slashed towards his direction which he anticipated and jumped out of the way which caused the creature to hit Adam instead. Pyrrha threw her shield towards Jaune to which he grabbed and threw it back towards her. She used her semblance to slow down the speed her shield was going and grabbed it again. She got up from the floor and ran towards Jaune with a flying kick which Jaune used his sword to block, but Pyrrha used her semblance to move the sword out of his hands and managed to kick Jaune right in the chest. Jaune was sent sliding back and conjured up his black flames to surround himself as a barrier. He hurled black flames towards the incoming beowolfs which fried both of them. One of the Ursi lunged at Jaune even though he had the black flames to protect him. The slash did its job and Jaune's sword was knocked off his hands. Adam noticed his weapon wasn't in Jaune's hands so he took advantage and attacked him. He swung his katana viciously which Jaune could barely avoid, but was surprised by Pyrrha's Javelin that was thrown, breaking of Jaune's mask. The attack surprised him and that caused him to lose focus on Adam and ultimately led to one of his attacks making contact with Jaune. Jaune's aura managed to absorb some of the damage, but with Adam's new aura it managed to leave a cut deep enough to slow Jaune down.

Jaune jumped back away from the battle to take a breather. The smoke and fire around him made it even more difficult since he started to have trouble breathing. He had to get out of the flames fast if he wants to stand a chance against them. Jaune ran towards his sword avoiding the Ursi attacks then headed towards the direction to where he saw the kingdom's water supply facility. The others followed behind to make sure he doesn't get out of here alive. Jaune place his weapon in front of him and jumped as a King Taijtu slithered towards Jaune from the direction he was running to. He slashed at the snake and continued running, expecting his pursuers to follow him. He made it out of the forest and reached the small facility that was connected with another facility by a large pipe. Jaune knew this would be the perfect place to be able to take on Adam by himself since the pipe is wide enough to hold a single person from each opposite end. The lights and fire lit the area up brightly which showed the beauty of a massive waterfall and Jaune could tell that he was at least 1,000 feet in the air. From out of the woods appeared Pyrrha and Adam ready to finish Jaune off.

"Running away like the pathetic human you are. Before I even kill you, I'm going to take my sweet time ripping every bone of your body for embarrassing me back in Roland." The Nevermore flying around landed next to Adam and allowed him to sit on its back. Things started to go the way they weren't supposed to go. Instead of Adam taking the bait, he hopped on the Nevermore and was now an aerial threat. Pyrrha was the one that Jaune had to also worry about now since she can easily stay on the pipe thanks to her semblance. The Nevermore circled around Jaune and swooped down to hit him with its wings, but Jaune managed to jump out of the way. Pyrrha threw her shield at Jaune causing him to trip over, but not fall off from the pipeline. Jaune had to be very careful where he stood because due to the waterfall being close, it was very slippery and one misstep could lead him to fall from 1,000 feet. Jaune got back to his feet and hurled black flames towards Pyrrha's direction to which she used her shield to block it. She converted her Javelin to gun and shot away at Jaune to which he slashed away at the rounds and jumped back to avoid the 2nd swoop attack from the Nevermore. Jaune at the moment had no idea what to do at that moment and knew if he doesn't come up with something quick, he is going to die. The Nevermore landed on the opposite side of the pipe to allow Adam to get off. With Adam on one side and Pyrrha in the other, it seems that Jaune would need to fight Pyrrha with the intent to kill if he were to have even a small chance of winning. Adam unsheathed his katana and swung away at Jaune rapidly to which he able to avoid and block. Pyrrha used her semblance to pull Jaune's sword away from him and towards her. Now Pyrrha was dual wielding two weapons at the same time while Jaune had nothing to fight back. Luckily for Jaune, he had been sparring with Jay when it came to hand to hand combat to which Jaune was able to excel at. Jaune kicked Adam away and quickly focused on Pyrrha who violently swung both weapons at Jaune and disallowing him an opening. Jaune conjured up black flames from his hand and threw multiple of it towards Pyrrha's direction, but she was able to avoid the attack. She got closer towards Jaune and swung his sword at him angrily to which he ducked and kicked her on the shin which caused Pyrrha to collapse to one knee. Jaune rolled over her and grabbed Pyrrha's shield and threw it towards Adam which managed to hit him across the face. Pyrrha placed her Javelin on her back and used her semblance to retrieve her shield back. She analyzed Jaune's stance and looked for a flaw within it. Jaune allowed her no time to formulate a plan and rushed towards her. She swung his sword towards Jaune to which manage to duck and kick upwards causing Pyrrha to lose her grip on his sword and go for a 2nd kick to push her away. Jaune caught his sword when it came down and ran towards Pyrrha slashing away at her. The two were now swinging and dodging from each other's attacks and neither one was showing any sign of backing down. Images from the past came towards Jaune's eyes as he saw himself sparring with Pyrrha on the rooftop of the school.

"Jaune, you are doing much better than before. If you keep this up, you will probably become better than me." Pyrrha said.

"Oh come on Pyrrha, that's most likely not going to happen." Jaune said. The two were tired from sparring and were now sitting down and looking at the night sky. It was covered with bright stars and the shattered moon was as bright as day.

"Hey Pyrrha…"

"Yes Jaune?"

"When you arrived to Beacon, did you ever expect to be helping someone like me to become a better fighter?" Pyrrha giggled at the question and took a while to respond.

"Well, I never thought that I will be helping out someone who didn't know how to fight." Pyrrha said. This statement saddened Jaune a bit.

"However, I'm glad that I did. It allowed me to find someone who cared about me, not because of the glory I received from tournaments, but for the person who I am. You're the only person who never knew who I was and that made me happy." Pyrrha placed her head towards Jaune's shoulder.

"I'm really happy that I met someone like you Pyrrha." The two continued to gaze at the night sky and feel the cool breeze that blew towards them.

"Jaune…"

"Yeah."

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?" Pyrrha asked, looking towards Jaune.

"You mean on top of the rooftop?" This made Pyrrha laugh a bit.

"No… I mean why are we here… in this world?"

"Honestly… I don't know. I sometimes think we are here to enjoy the life that we were given to us. I mean, we are here to find that something that could give us that answer. Everyone's answer will be different, but when I find that answer… I will be sure to tell you."

Jaune slipped underneath Pyrrha and created a massive black flame blast towards Adam. Adam smiled and used his Katana to absorb the attack. Adam unleashed the powerful blast back towards Jaune to which he stood in front of Pyrrha and used his semblance to send the blast to the dark void. This allowed Pyrrha to go ahead and finish Jaune off while he was absorbing the attack which unable him to do anything. Pyrrha slowly pointed her Javelin towards Jaune's back, her face was covered in tears and her arms were shaking.

"Do it." Jaune said. Pyrrha looked towards Jaune with a surprised look.

"If this is going to help you release all that anger and sorrow, then do it. I only want what is best for you and this is the only way I can do to repent for being weak that day."

"I- I can't control it." Pyrrha said.

"You're Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who everyone looked up to, the girl who I loved and aimed to stand beside." With all her strength, Pyrrha threw her Javelin towards Adam and struck him in the chest which managed to penetrate his aura and get lodged in his body. Jaune turned around towards Pyrrha and held her arms tightly.

"You can do this Pyrrha! You need to fight back!"

"No! I can't! Jaune I can't hold it much longer!"

"Yes you can! Fight it!"

"Jaune! You know what you have to do!" Jaune paused for a moment and didn't want to think about what she said.

"NO! I'm not doing that again! I'm not going to be the reason why…"

"Please Jaune! I want you to do this! If anyone is going to kill me… I want it to be the person who I love!" Black liquid tears ran down Jaune's cheeks. He collapsed onto the pipe and slowly drew his sword hesitantly and placed it in front of Pyrrha. His arms shook, unable to hold his emotion. Everything was getting to him.

 _"_ _Everything that I've done to bring about a better world is destroying me. Is that a price to pay to bring happiness to everyone? At the cost of your well-being? Who is Jaune Arc? Who does he stand for and for what reason? What gives him the right to decide who lives… and who dies? What exactly is he trying to accomplish?"_ Jaune's inner thoughts berated him.

"Jaune… no matter what happens, no matter what obstacles comes your way… know this. I will always be with you." Pyrrha said. Jaune placed his left hand onto Pyrrha's right cheek, leaned over to her and kissed her on her forehead. Pyrrha's left hand was also place on Jaune's cheek. She was wiping off the tears that were streaming down Jaune's face.

"I can see your memories Jaune. Protect this world for me and please… please learn to love again after this. Loneliness is…" Pyrrha's eyes were reverting to its dark state and Jaune already knew what was going on.

"And in the end… it will be me that will take the killing blow to save you… Pyrrha." Jaune's sword was now lodged in Pyrrha's heart. Her eyes reverted again back to its regular state. It was now empty with life. Jaune removed the blade from her body and dropped it in front of him. He caressed the lifeless body and cried his heart out.

"This isn't over yet you brat!" Adam was heard yelling across the pipe.

"You may have won this battle, but you will not win the war!" Adam pulled out a switch from his pocket.

"This… this is a dead man switch! If my thumb comes off the button, the reactor will unleash a large dark aura beam into the sky which will attract thousands of Grimm creatures to the kingdom's location. This whole kingdom will be infested with Grimm and it will ultimately destroy this pathetic kingdom." Jaune walked towards Adam's direction without a care in the world.

"You think I won't do it!? I will! The Nevermore landed next to Adam, ready to take him away from Jaune. Jaune aimed his hand towards Adam and his katana went straight towards Jaune. His hand grabbed the Katana from midair and placed it beside him.

"How did you…" Adam said. Jaune then released black flames towards the Nevermore and caught on fire. The Nevermore fell towards the water that was beneath Jaune and Adam from a thousand feet.

"Stay back! I will let go of my thumb!" Adam said. Jaune continued walking towards Adam intent on killing him. Adam released his thumb from the switch and a loud bang erupted from the facility where Ruby and the others were. A black beam could be seen erupting and hitting the sky. A cold chill was felt by Jaune and he quickly stabbed the pipe underneath him to hold him tight. A big force was coming towards them that could be seen from miles away. The force reached them and both managed to hold on tightly and Jaune used his new magnetism ability to keep Pyrrha from falling off the pipe. After the force subdued, Jaune ran towards Adam and managed to take him down. Jaune's hands clasped down on Adam's neck and he started to absorb his aura.

"You're the reason why this is all happening. The attack on beacon, the death of Pyrrha, the disaster that's going to happen in Mistral! You are the main reason why this is all happening!"

Jaune's hands tighten around Adam's neck to which Adam was unable to talk. Jaune grew a smile and enjoyed the violent struggle from Adam. Adam's arms and legs violently flailing, the frightening look that Adam had on his eyes, and the feelings of supremacy excited Jaune. After seconds of struggling, he stopped. Adam was no longer living among this world. Jaune got back onto his feet and kicked off Adam from the pipe. His lifeless body fell from a thousand feet, hitting the water underneath them. Jaune walked over back to Pyrrha and picked up her body. Another Nevermore hovered next to Jaune and with his new power, he was able to befriend the Nevermore and get on its back. He was now heading back to the medical facility where he intends to stop the reactor.

 **Well damn... Jaune's life is pretty depressing isn't it? It took me a while, but here we are. I really enjoyed making this chapter because listening to music depending on the situation really gets me hyped and it really gives me a vivid picture of what is going on. I'll see you guys on the next chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20 - A Dark Game

**Chapter 20 – A Dark Game**

"Amber, can you hear me?" Jaune asked through his earpiece.

"Amber! Ruby! Sun! Anybody!?" Jaune yelled. A weird static noise was heard through the earpiece which Jaune could not tell who it was.

"Hello! Can you hear me!?"

" ***BUZZ*** J…ne **? *BUZZ*"** Jaune could not tell who it was that was responding to his call, but continued responding as he arrived closer to the medical facility.

 **"** **The reactor must be jamming the communications in Mistral. I'm going to need to shut it down fast so that I can quickly call for an airship back to Beacon as soon as possible."**

"Whoever is responding, I'm on my way towards your location. Just… stay alive while I get there." Jaune looked back and stared at Pyrrha's body, not knowing what he was going to say to the others when he arrives. He looked around him and noticed that the forest was swarming with Grimm and he knew that he needed to hurry back before his friends get overrun.

 ** _"_** **The Dark aura is attracting even the Grimm from all the way over here? Just how far does the Dark aura reach?"** Jaune wondered.

"* **BUZZ*** Ruby… * **BUZZ*** others… ***BUZZ*** uncon… ***BUZZ*** beam! ***BUZZ*** " After minutes of flying towards the location, Jaune noticed a large amount of vehicles heading towards his team's location. Jaune knew that it was all of the law enforcement in the kingdom heading over here. He knew that if his team doesn't leave the kingdom soon, they will be stuck there until this whole problem is resolved. What's worse is that they could possibly be blamed for the attack and could be jailed or even worse… executed. Jaune landed next to the facility and readied his sword in hand, just in case if he has to fight his way in. Jaune turned to the Nevermore and stared at the bird without saying any words. The creature knew what Jaune wanted it to do and listened to his request and flew around the area to keep an eye on the incoming officers. Jaune ran inside and tried to take the elevator down, but noticed that the elevator was completely destroyed. He ran towards the stairs and begun his descent to the ground floor where he last saw Ruby and the others. On his way down, he noticed a white fang soldier standing still and unresponsive. He looked at the front of the Faunus and noticed that he was covered in some sort of paralyzing field. Jaune proceeded to touch the soldier and that gave him an electric shock that somewhat paralyzed his hand. Still confused, Jaune proceeded towards the ground floor and made it to where he left Ruby and the others. Upon passing through the door, he saw a large number of White Fang soldier the same way as the one he saw at the stairs, paralyzed. Jaune noticed Sun, Neptune, and Winter's team crowded around in one side of the room.

"What's going on?" Jaune asked as he walked closer to the group. Upon reaching them, they moved to the side and noticed Ruby holding Amber's hand. When Jaune to a closer look, he noticed that Amber had a deep cut in between her chest. She had lost a lot of blood already and her chances of survival were slim.

"What happened?" Jaune asked Ruby who had tears streaming down her eyes.

"She jumped in front of me to save me. One of the White Fang soldiers would have killed me if she…" Ruby said, trying her best to keep her emotions together.

"Yang would have gotten upset if ***cough*** something happened to her baby sister on my watch." Amber said, coughing up blood.

"Relax Amber. Everything is going to be okay. We're going to take you to a doctor and you're going to be fine." Ruby said.

"We don't have time to go to a doctor Ruby. Every law enforcement officer in the kingdom is coming this way and a giant force of Grimm is going to invade the kingdom.

"What? What are you talking about?" Winter asked.

"That black beam is attracting the Grimm and I'm not sure if we take it down, it will stop them from attacking the kingdom." Jaune calmly said as he looked towards the reactor.

"We'll grab Amber and quickly get out of here." Weiss stated.

"Amber can't come with us; we're going to need to leave her behind." Jaune said.

"What are you saying!? We can't just leave her here!" Ruby yelled. Jaune walked over to the Reactor to figure out a way to turn it off without having to destroy it.

 **"** **If I destroy this thing, it will probably cause something a lot worse than a beam shooting towards the sky. The only way is to absorb it from the core. If I can do that it should completely stop. However…"** Jaune thought carefully about what he was going to do and decided that it would be best to absorb it rather than destroy it.

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!?" Ruby yelled. Her emotions were getting the best of her and she could no longer hold in any of it inside her.

"I'm going to absorb the Dark aura to stop it from releasing into the sky and while I'm doing this, I want you all to get far away from here as possible. Head back to the city and…" Jaune was immediately cut off by Ruby who was now angry at the knight.

"Are you listening to yourself? What is wrong with you right now? You want to leave a friend behind and you want to let this disgusting aura overtake you like it did back in Roland!?" Ruby yelled.

"This is the only way you guys can get out of here before this whole kingdom gets locked down! Don't think for a second that I'm doing this for myself because I am not! Look at Amber and tell me she will not slow you guys down! If they find out we were involved in this, it would trace back to Ozpin and who knows what could happen to the school if Ozpin is to be blamed!" Everyone in the room got quiet. They looked at Jaune with a bit of discomfort and looked back at Amber.

"I would use my semblance like I did to Cinder, but I don't know whether it would kill her or not! I suggest you calm down and think about this critically like an actual leader and not like a little girl!" Ruby at this point had nothing to say. Not only was she was being scolded by the person she loved, but also had to deal with a friend dying in front of her eyes.

"Ruby… Jaune is right." Amber said.

"NO! No he is wrong! We can carry you back to…"

"This wound… it's really deep and I've already lost a lot of blood. Even if you took me by an airship, I won't make it to the nearest hospital."

"But…"

"Ruby… you are the kindest girl I've ever met. You remind me of someone I knew years ago who was a maiden like me. She was always cheerful and enjoyed the company of her friends. The power you showed earlier… ***Cough** * tells me that you may have that same gift she had when she was still alive." Jaune was listening to her and he already knew what she was talking about. He looked at Ruby's silver eyes with a slight annoyance, yet he himself did not notice.

"I understand that you would do anything to help a friend out, but sometimes there are some things that cannot be fixed no matter how hard you try." Amber said. All of a sudden, the speakers in the room turned on and loud popping noises were heard that startled everyone.

"Is this thing on? ***Tap* *Tap*** Testing 1 2 3."

"Where the hell is that coming from?" Sun asked.

"I don't know, but that voice… it sounds familiar." Jaune said.

"You don't recognize my voice Jaune? You should since you were one of the many who were eavesdropping to our group conversation back at Roland.

"Rhett?"

"That's right my boy. It seems you were able to finish off dear old Adam Taurus. What a shame, he seemed like the type of person to turn out like me. Oh well what can you do right?"

"You've already lost Rhett. So I suggest you turn yourself in and maybe they will give you a lesser sentence, unless they decide to kill you." Jaune said.

"You killed Adam?" Blake asked. Jaune ignored her question and continued listening to Rhett.

"I lost? Sorry to break it to you, but I haven't loss yet."

"What are you talking about? I'm about to stop this reactor and everything will be over."

"But I thought…" Sun said. Jaune quickly placed his finger in front of his lips to signal Sun to stay quiet.

"Let's say it does work, I'm still alive. In my books, that's neither a win nor a loss. Besides, I have two things that would guarantee my survival."

"And what would that be?" Blake asked

"Why don't you say something to the listeners James?"

"Why won't you just kill me?" James asked. His exhausted voice went through the speakers and everyone's heart skipped a beat.

"Jay! Are you alright!?" Jaune asked.

"Jaune? Where's Yang?" Jay was severely beaten up and had trouble staying awake.

"I'm right here Jay." Yang was heard as well, but they weren't in the same room.

"Yang! Ruby, Blake, and Weiss yelled.

"How the hell did he get Yang?" Jaune asked.

"I… I wanted to help Jay because none of you wanted to even attempt to save him." Yang said.

"I thought I told Ren and Nora to…"

"I fought my way over here. I couldn't let something happen to him."

"Why Yang? Why do you insist in throwing yourself in front of danger for me?" Jay asked, nearly passing out.

"I do what I want. If something happened to you I wouldn't be able to forgive myself knowing that I could have saved you." Yang didn't want to endure the same pain she had when her mother left her. By watching Jay go, it felt like she was reliving that moment once again and did not want to stand by and do nothing.

"Yang! Are you alright?! Are you hurt?" Blake yelled.

"I'm fine. I'm blindfolded so I can't see where I am. Where are you guys?"

"Yang…" Amber said quietly as she lost consciousness.

"Listen Yang we are going to get you and Jay out as soon as possible so don't worry." Blake said.

"You shouldn't make a promise that you know you will be able to keep." Rhett said with a sinister chuckle.

"Rhett, if you do anything to Yang I will…"

"You'll what? Untie yourself and come kill me? You can barely stay awake my dear James."

"What are your demands to let Ruby's friends go?" Winter asked.

"Demands? I don't have demands. I simply want to see everyone's true colors when it comes to deciding one's fate."

"Deciding one's fate?" Winter said.

"Guys… Amber is… gone." Neptune said. Everyone pulled their focus back at Amber in shock. Jaune however, wasn't fazed of the predicament they were in.

"Amber…" Ruby said, her eyes swelled up with even more tears and couldn't hold back her whimpering.

"I would pay attention over here if I were you, or else you'll lose two more close friends." Rhett said.

"Like I said, before I was rudely interrupted. I enjoy watching someone reveal their true nature when facing their potential deaths or their friends in this manner."

"You sick bastard!" Jay yelled, already knowing what Rhett was planning on making the team do.

"Looks like you already know what I have planned." Rhett said.

"He's making us choose who will survive… and who will die." Jaune said calmly.

"What!?" Ruby and the others yelled. Ruby covered her mouth in shock, Blake's body shivered in fear knowing that her close friend Yang could possibly die. Weiss looked at Winter in hopes that she had an idea, but alas she did not and had the same worried look as she did. Sun and Neptune were walking back and forth trying to comprehend what was going on. Everything was going too fast for them, this was their first time having control over someone's fate.

"Jay and Yang are being held in a storage room armed with explosives that are set to blow in 4 minutes. I will give you two minutes to decide who lives and who dies. Once you tell me your answer I will tell you and show you the person's exact location and you will have two minutes to go get him or her."

Everyone was now yelling and asking questions to Rhett. Yang and Jay were yelling at their friends to choose the other in hopes that he or she will not have to need to live a life without their loved one.

"Choose Yang. Please choose her." Jay said.

"YOU HAVE TO SAVE JAY! DON'T CHOOSE ME!" Yang yelled in fear.

"Why should we believe you? You will probably kill them both either way!" Sun asked

"I'm a man of my word. Whether you believe me or you don't, it doesn't matter. None of you are in the position to think that I'm lying. The countdown starts now!" A 2 minute countdown appeared in a monitor near them and now they had no idea what to do. At this point, everyone was now yelling at one another.

"CHOOSE YANG! DO YOU ALL HEAR ME!? Jay yelled.

"NO DON'T! YOU NEED TO CHOOSE JAY! IF YOU CHOOSE ME I WILL NEVER FORGIVE ANY OF YOU! Yang exclaimed with a fierce voice.

"Man! What are we going to do!? Who are we going to choose!? I can't choose who lives and who dies!?" Sun yelled.

"Well, we have to choose or both of them will die!" Blake at this point had already come up with her decision. She wanted to save Yang, her teammate, her close friend.

"We have more than a minute to choose. Everyone will need to calm down and come up with a decision. We'll do majority vote." Jaune said. Ruby looked at Jaune with a confused expression. How could Jaune be so calm in a situation like this? Amber just died and two of his friends' lives are on stake. She expected him to be a bit terrified knowing that one of them will die, but he was calm and collected, as if he didn't care what could happen. While they were thinking carefully about their choice, Jay took the time to tell Yang a few things before either of them leaves this world.

"Yang listen… you and I both know you are going to be chosen, but I want you to know… I rather have it that way."

"IT'S THEIR FAULT FOR LETTING THIS HAPPEN! If they would have gone along with me… then all of this… all of this wouldn't have happened." Yang at this point was already broken. She began to cry knowing that there was nothing she could do to stop this from happening.

"I've lost people and walked around this world… lost in a never ending nightmare of seeing my team dead. I didn't see myself with any other team… any other person and that's how I always wanted it to remain. It's hard replacing someone you loved with another person, but I finally now realized something. If you trap yourself in darkness that pushes anyone you ever knew away… you'll come to see what it is like… to be truly alone in this world." While everyone else was deciding who to choose, Jaune listened to what Jay had to say.

"Yang… there are people that are there for you whether you know it or not and whether you choose to forgive a friend for something they did is up to you. I just hope that you won't walk the same path that Jaune and I have been walking all this time because of someone we lost. What you will find cannot be expressed in words, but I can only hope that you will choose a different path to follow. A path that I wish I could have taken instead of this."

Thirty seconds have passed and all of them have already come up with their choice.

"I choose Yang." Blake said.

"Yang." Ruby said. Yang was now biting her lower lip in frustration.

"Yang." Weiss said.

"Yang." Winter said.

"Jay." Roy said

"Yang." Winter said.

"Yang." Neptune said.

"Yang." Sun said.

"So it's already decided." Jaune said.

"Wait… you didn't choose." Ruby said.

"My choice will not make a difference in the matter. Rhett! We've come up with our decision." Jaune said.

"You still have 30 seconds to choose. Well it seems it was a relatively answer for all of you. Who who will it be?" Rhett asked with his sinister smile behind the microphone.

"We're choosing Yang."

"Ah yes. The person you've been with longer and care for the most."

"No you're wrong. We care about them both!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Are you sure? You tell yourselves that, but are you sure you aren't lying to yourselves? You have chosen someone that means more to you than the other. Jay seems more beneficial to you all rather than your close friend who by the way is the reason why this is happening. Well in any case, Yang is located east from here by the Rain River. A map will be shown from the monitor next to you." The monitor turned on and the map showed Yang's approximate location.

You better hurry. You only have two minutes before the bombs go off." Rhett snickered and turned his mic off.

"Yang can you hear me?" Ruby asked, but there was no answer from either of them. They had lost contact to them once they told Rhett their vote.

"Ruby, you're faster than all of us here. Go get Yang and the rest of you get out of here. I can sense the officers and Grimm closing in. I will stay here and shut down the reactor." Jaune said.

Everyone didn't have time to argue and agreed to Jaune's plan. Jaune stopped Roy and asked a quick question before he left to hide.

"Do you know where Torchwick went?"

"He disappeared as soon as he saw the trap. I knew we shouldn't have trusted him." Roy said clenching his fists. Jaune let him go and walked over to the reactor, ready to absorb the dark energy that was concentrated in the center of it. He placed his hand on it and begun to absorb every ounce of energy it had. The beam that was shooting towards the air had begun to flicker and thin out. Jaune struggled to keep control of his body and mind and found it difficult to maintain his awareness. The Dark energy had slowly covered his entire body, but Jaune used every ounce of strength to fight back and not allow it to take him over. The force that surround Jaune managed to push the furniture away, make the floor crumble, and cause the whole building to shake. In an instant, a massive force sent Jaune soaring away against the wall and not only did the force manage to make everything in the room to be pushed away, it also managed to spread a mile away. Jaune successfully managed to stop the reactor and was able to successfully able to control his body and mind. He walked over to Amber who was in a sitting position against a wall. He stared blankly, not feeling any sadness or sorrow, but calm. Amber's eyes were closed and seemed like she died in peace. Jaune used his semblance to transport her to the black void so that he wouldn't need to carry anything that could slow him down. Right when he did it, 5 people entered the room and Jaune already had an idea who it was.

"SRT! Hold it right there! Keep your hands in the air and don't do anything unless you want to die!" One of the men yelled. Jaune was facing the other way which didn't give them a chance to see Jaune's face. He used his dark aura to create his black mask to avoid his identity from being revealed and slowly turned around.

"Yeah… that's it. Nice and slow now." The other man said.

"You really chose the wrong place in the wrong time to arrest someone." Jaune said, with an annoyed angry tone.

 **Here is another Chapter for all of you to enjoy. It's currently 2:36 am where I am at and I'm not even tired. Sorry for taking quite a bit of time when making these chapters. Dark Souls 3 has been keeping me busy as of late. Well anyways, the chapter is up and I do hope you continue enjoying reading them. I will try to upload two chapters this week if I can.**


	21. Chapter 21 - Purpose

**Chapter 21 – Purpose**

"What did you say!?" the woman yelled. Jaune looked around the room, ready to make his move the moment they make themselves open.

"I'll cuff him." The woman in black armor said. She approached Jaune with caution, knowing that he might make a move.

"3…2…" Jaune had begun to count down which startled the Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"Why are you counting down!?" the man yelled as he pointed his gun towards the black knight.

"1…"

* * *

Ruby looked at her phone to check the time. She only had about 45 seconds left before the storage room where Yang was being kept explodes. With all her aura, she increased her speed, but had many Grimm blocking her way towards her sister. With a swift and accurate strike, she slashed through many Beowolfs and Ursi. None of the creatures stood a chance against Ruby's speed, accuracy, and determination. She did not care what stood in her way, if it was preventing her from reaching her sister she would not hesitate to kill it. Streaks of red pedals were the only thing visible from the eyes of the woodland creatures could see. With 10 seconds left to spare, she made it to the storage unit and cut through the metal door that kept her beloved sister inside.

"YANG!" Ruby yelled. She entered the room and saw Yang tied up to a chair with a few bruises around her face and legs. She sped towards her and cut through the rope and pulled her sister towards the door, but Yang was being uncooperative.

"NO! JAMES!" Yang screamed, pained at the sight of Jay about to die in the inevitable explosion that was about to happen. Ruby with all her remaining strength and speed managed to leave the storage unit and run far enough where the explosion would not be able to harm the two.

* * *

Two explosions were heard from the distance that shook the skilled Huntsmen which Jaune had perfectly been counting down to take the advantage of the distraction. Jaune grabbed hold of the Huntress that was about to cuff him and used her as leverage to stop the other Huntsmen to fight him which worked.

"LET HER GO! STOP RIGHT THERE! DON'T MOVE!" Every Huntsman in the room was now on edge as they witness their partner taken hostage by the criminal.

"If you don't let me go, the only thing that you will have to remember of your partner is the sight of her head dangling from her vertebrae. I suggest you lower your weapons and don't do anything that will make me want to kill her." Jaune held his sword tightly towards her neck showing no sign of hesitation. The unit followed the knight's direction and lowered their weapons and allowed him to move freely with their partner in his grip. Jaune walked towards the exit that led upstairs to the main floor and felt something behind him. Jaune kicked the Huntress towards the unit and swung his sword behind him, wounding an invisible presence behind him. He looked back at the unit and noticed one of them unconscious, but still standing.

 _"_ _His semblance must be the ability to have some sort of out of the body experience and physically be able to do things as if it was another human body… but the downside must be that his real body is rendered useless until he returns to it."_ Jaune managed to figure out what his semblance was and retreated up the stairs avoiding numerous rounds from the Remnant unit. Jaune saw law enforcement coming down the stairs and had no choice but to fight through them. He jumped on the metal railing and used his polarity semblance to stick on to it and run up without having the worries of falling off. He kicked, punched, and slashed the officers that were after him. He deflected, blocked, and teleported the projectiles that were shot at him as he ran up the steps towards the main floor and reached it with no problem. He proceeded to run towards the exit and led outside of the facility, finally able to escape. He exited the facility and witnessed the largest police force he has ever seen.

"DROP YOUR WEAPON AND PLACE YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! IF YOU DO ANYTHING THAT IS HOSITILE, WE WILL SHOOT!" One of the cops yelled into a megaphone. Spotlights were aiming towards Jaune and helicopters were hovering over him with sharpshooters taking aim at the blonde knight. Jaune smiled and did what they said, slowly placing his sword on the ground and raising his hands in the air. In a brief moment, he conjured up black flames underneath the large number of patrol cars and blew them all up, causing every officer in the vicinity to jump away from the vehicles and look away at the dark knight. Jaune's sword returned to his hand and now the knight was on the run, running towards the woods to avoid the helicopters from finding him. He then noticed that the nevermore he rode on was attacking the helicopters, causing them to return to the facility to avoid the danger. The nevermore landed in an open area not too far from Jaune's location, but was infested with Grimm that were attracted by the dark aura. A King taijitu slithered towards Jaune in great speed, eager to eat Jaune. Although Jaune managed to control the Nevermore, he still didn't know how he did it and didn't want to try at the moment. Jaune readied Crocea Mors in his and sliced the snake in two with ease, and sped towards the open field where the Nevermore awaited. After fighting several creatures, he made it and was able to get on the Nevermore and fled the area.

"Jaune come in." Jaune completely forgot about the earpiece he still had in his ear and responded to Winter.

"Winter I'm here. Did you all return back to the city? Back to the academy?"

"Affirmative, we returned to the school, however, Roy isn't here. I think he already went his separate way. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way, I went into a bit of trouble… but I managed to escape safely. Did Ruby manage to save Yang?"

"She did, however, don't expect for Yang to be open to anyone any time soon."

"… I understand. There are a few things I want to do here first, I need you to take the team and depart the kingdom as soon as possible. They could begin an evacuation of the kingdom in about 2 hours, the sooner you can leave this kingdom… the better."

"Very well, I will make sure the team return safely to Vale."

"… Thank you." Jaune observed of what was going on below him. The hundreds of Grimm that were arriving from the mountains… were now halfway towards the facility. It wouldn't take long until the creatures invade the kingdom. Jaune believed that the beam could attract more Grimm from each side of the kingdom and that it would most likely take another kingdom's help to completely stop the Grimm from attacking. At this point, they only thing that the Mistral government could do now is to use their military strength to maintain control over the Jaune flew around for a couple of minutes and decided to land on a small area, surrounded by trees and had a fairly sized lake next to it. The Nevermore landed and Jaune touched down to the ground and lifted Pyrrha onto his arms. He walked over by the lake and placed the now cold body down. The nevermore flew off again and disappeared into the distance. Jaune walked over to one of the trees and sliced it in half. He began to split the tree into small logs and sticks and placed it by the lake, making sure the water doesn't soak the wood. After several minutes, he managed to gather enough wood and picked Pyrrha back up again. He heard something land behind him and noticed it was the Nevermore, with a long blanket in its beak. Jaune smiled and grabbed the blanket from the Nevermore and used it to wrap Pyrrha's body. He placed the body onto the large plot of wood and ignited it with his black flames. He watched as the flames burned away at the wood and the emotionless body. He sat down on the ground at stared at the fire that emitted no light. He stayed like that for several minutes, mesmerized by the flame and trying to understand what he was going to do now. The people who attacked Beacon were now dead. Torchwick was still alive, but Jaune didn't feel the need to kill him because he helped him try to stop Adam, but he still wasn't sure whether he was next in his hit list… or not.

 _"_ _How much has Jay endured? He lost his parents, the girl he loved, his team, and he was alone for a quite a while. He was a lone Huntsman in training, but continued to fight for a better future. We were no different, we were basically the same person living in two separate bodies, yet I feel like I have endured more pain than any other has. This dark aura is changing me and I'm not sure if it will help the world or destroy it. I don't know what to do… I don't know what to do…"_

"Jaune… you there?"

"Roy is that you?"

"Yeah, it seems that this kingdom is going to need to endure a long battle against these dangerous creatures. I hope you and your friends can get out of here safely, I can only imagine what kind of pain your friend is facing right now. It's going to be hard for her to move past this. At least he isn't in Rhett's grasp anymore. To be honest, I'm surprised he allowed you to choose who you could save."

"What do you mean?"

"Well for starters, Rhett is a ruthless serial killer who enjoys torturing people for his own sick pleasure. I'm not trying to sound like a douche, but it was better for your friend Jay to die rather for him to endure an unmeasurable pain that he would have gotten from Rhett."

"I guess you're right."

"Listen, the words you told really inspired me to do more for the city. I'm no Huntsman, but you are. I think that anybody who has endured great pain is a true Huntsman. I don't doubt that you would sacrifice yourself to make this world a peaceful place and that is something I want to also create. The best start for me… is to help this kingdom from getting destroyed by Grimm. You take care of yourself. I wouldn't want you to become a bloodthirsty creature like them."

"… I will Roy and you sure you can handle this yourself? Maybe I should stick around and help you."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I've already got a team that can help me with this task and besides… there is another kingdom that needs a savior."

"Alright then savior… take care." Roy chuckled at the response and removed the earpiece. Jaune proceeded to do the same and threw it towards the water. He continued to watch the fire for several minutes and fell asleep soundly on the floor.

 _"_ _You saw how they looked at you right? Your friends... all those officers? They were afraid of you… of the power you held. Do you honestly think that your friends will continue be with you?"_ A female's voice was heard in Jaune's head.

 _"_ _YES OF COURSE! They have been on my side since I arrived in Beacon. They wouldn't abandon me!"_ Jaune yelled in his head.

 _"_ _The people you worked so hard to protect will betray you. They will look at you like some sort of monster, no different than a Grimm."_ Jaune began to see images of himself in front of an angry crowd. Their eyes filled with anger, despair, and frustration.

 _"_ _That's not true!"_

 _"_ _They'll blame you for the incident and when they do, they'll want you dead even though you were the one who stopped it. What will you do then savior? Would you continue to help humanity even though they see you as an enemy or will you finally realize that you aren't a part of them and realize the truth?"_

 _"_ _WHO ARE YOU!? LEAVE ME ALONE!"_ Jaune awoke from the unusual nightmare. His face was in a puddle inside a home.

"Water?" Jaune said. He picked himself up, away from the puddle and it was then when he realized what it was, blood. Jaune was able to look at his own reflection from the crimson red blood that lay on the ground. His face held a horrified expression and his eyes widened in shock as he slowly looked to his side and noticed three people dead on the floor. He slowly looked to the other side and saw a male and a female, sliced open. He looked behind him and saw four others, with multiple gashes. He noticed the walls were covered in blood and the floor looked as though it were a pool. Jaune looked at his hands that were stained with each person's blood and his sword tightly gripped on his hand. Jaune stared at the door in front of him tirelessly, his body felt as if it never got any rest. He crawled to the door and opened it, his eyes was blinded by the sunlight and tried to comprehend where he was at. He used his aura to cover his face with his mask and slowly got up, using his sword as a cane as if he himself were an old man. The place he was at looked deserted, but not entirely. A few Grimm were roaming around and the structures seemed that of an urban area. Jaune looked around for the Nevermore that he was with, but was nowhere to be seen. Jaune hurried towards a different home, continuing to use his sword as support. He entered the home and saw that it was empty. Quite a bit of suitcases were laying on the floor as if the family who once lived here were in a hurry. Open drawer's with some shirts hanging, a television that was still on. Jaune grabbed the remote that was lying on the floor and changed the channel towards the news.

"Huntsmen and Huntresses were deployed evenly around the kingdom along with Mistral military forces. We've got a word from our general that aid from Vacuole will be arriving in a few days so we shouldn't fear. At the moment they have everything under control and can expect this to be over soon."

Jaune exited the home and looked around the neighborhood quietly, avoiding detection of the Grimm that roamed the streets. He noticed military vehicles abandoned on the roads and a few dead soldiers as well. After a while of looking around, he found an abandoned helicopter that was left on a crossroad. The helicopter held a dead pilot and two female citizens. Jaune guessed that they tried to escape, but were killed before they were able to fly off. Jaune pulled the dead bodies out of the vehicle and jumped into the cockpit.

"I guess my piloting practice starts today." Jaune said. He flicked switches, hoping that one of them will turn the air vehicle on and to his surprise it did. The helicopter turned on and was now hovering. This caused the Grimm in the vicinity to notice Jaune and they hurried towards him, itching to kill him. Jaune pulled the handle in front of him and that made the helicopter reverse and ended up slicing up the Grimm with its spinning blades.

"I guess that somewhat worked." Jaune continue to struggle to find a way to fly off and after a few seconds of figuring things out, he managed to make the helicopter ascend to the sky and leave the area.

"Now… where exactly am I?" Jaune asked himself. He looked at the view from high above and saw an entire city covered in smoke and flames.

* * *

"YANG!" Ruby's voice was heard through a speaker that was next to Jay.

"NO! JAMES!" Yang screamed, her yelling slowly faded away and Jay was left with a smile on his face, knowing that Yang was rescued and was now safely away. A few seconds later, two explosions were seen in the window. This puzzled Jay and he didn't know what to think of it. He was still alive and should have been deep fried a second ago.

"Was the bomb a dud? Why am I still alive?" Jay asked himself.

"My my my my my… you were expecting me to kill you dear James? Heavens no, you're too special for me to kill you… well not yet anyway."

"What are you talking about psychotic freak!?" Rhett punched Jay across the face, causing Jay to fall to the side with the chair.

"You're just like your dead girlfriend, never showing any respect. I'm going to need to teach how to respect people above you boy and the only way to do that is for you to live… under… my… care." Jay could only prepare for what was in store for him from the psychotic lunatic named Rhett.

 **Hey everyone, I apologize for not being able to upload two chapters this week or upload a chapter earlier today, but always late than never right? Anyways, here is the chapter. I should use this time to point out a something. At the moment, Jaune is hearing voices in his head which I know you can guess who this person is. Sooner or later, there will be a chapter that will arrive that will be the last chapter that will allow the reader to choose an outcome. Whether the end result stays the same or changes is up to me. There might be a choice for you to make soon that probably isn't as big, but stay tune for that. Does this mean we are coming to an end in this crazy story? Nope. This is just a heads up for the readers, but I do expect to finish this up by the end of the month I hope. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me and I will be happy to answer them. I will see you all later!**


	22. Chapter 22 - Arouse

**Chapter 22 – Arouse**

"It's been a day already and he hasn't answered his phone. I'm starting to feel as though something bad has happened." Weiss said, looking at the news channel that was covering the chaos that had arisen in Mistral.

"I'm sure Jaune is doing fine. He was probably tired from fighting for so long. I was amazed he was still able to stop the reactor." Blake said, observing Yang who was still unresponsive to her teammates.

"Have you guys noticed Jaune's change in behavior? He wasn't acting like himself back at Mistral." Ruby mentioned, remembering his burst of anger towards her when Amber was dying.

"He had to fight Pyrrha and let's not forget that Jay and Yang were threatened to be killed." Blake stated. Yang placed her full attention towards the team's conversation.

"I guess so, but still…" Ruby kept pestering them about this, but they did not pay much attention to it.

"For some reason, I can't get this weird feeling off of me." Weiss said, rubbing each of her arms as though she felt cold.

"You mean the feeling of sending a person to their death?" Yang added.

"Yang for the last time, it's not our fault! How would we know that this could have happened to you and Jay?" Blake yelled in frustration. She did not want to believe that their decision is what caused Jay to die. Thinking about it made her think twice about it. Could they really be the reason that Jay is now dead?

"You had a choice to help him! And instead, you chose to help that sorry excuse for a Huntsman in training fool!"

"Wait just a minute! Jaune tried to help the kingdom from getting destroyed! He has done more than you could ever do! All you managed to do was to get caught and force us to choose who lives and who dies!" Weiss yelled. Her love for Jaune took over her mind. She didn't think what her response to Yang would make her feel. Yang's pent up anger revealed with the color of her eyes turning to crimson red.

"You know what… I don't need this crap. I don't need a girl who has gotten everything from her daddy's wallet to scold me. Unlike you ice queen, I do things on my own. I don't need a father or friends to do everything for me." Yang had approached Weiss and the two were now mere inches away from each other. At any given moment, the two could already get themselves into a brawl which could leave both in an injured state.

"STOP IT THE BOTH OF YOU!" Ruby yelled.

"Listen Yang… I'm sorry that…" Ruby was immediately cutoff by Yang's angry yell.

"You're sorry!? You're sorry!? Sorry doesn't bring Jay back! You could have helped me! Your sister! To save Jay from Rhett's hands! Yet you chose to stick with that stupid guy because you are in love with him!" Ruby had never heard or seen Yang this angry before, especially when all that anger, frustration, and sadness is being directed towards her. Her grey eyes watered and she felt as though she herself was being abandoned by her own sister.

"Yang I…"

"I don't want to hear anything from any of you." Yang proceeds to head towards the door, stomping each foot to the ground fiercely.

"Where are you going?" Blake asked.

"I'm done with this stupid team...

"What!" Ruby, Blake, and Weiss exclaimed, shocked by Yang's response.

"I'm heading to Professor Ozpin's office to let him know I no longer want to be teamed up with you three." Blake yelled for her to stop, but it was pointless. Yang had already opened the door and slammed it shut. Her loud footsteps were heard fading away and they were left to grasp what had just occurred. Tension was high and neither of them was able to relax and maintain a level head.

"Maybe we should let them alone for a while." Nora said to Ren.

"Yeah… we should." Ren and Nora slowly backed away from the door that lead to team RWBY's room and left back to their own sanctuary.

* * *

"I understand Jaune. An airship will be at your location to pick you up in a few hours. Try to survive until then." Ozpin said. He managed to escape the city that was now rubble. Right after Ozpin hung up the elevator door opened and out came a fierce and intimidating golden haired student. For a moment, Ozpin saw an image of Raven as if she was the one in front of him. In a mere second, he returned back to the current time and welcomed the student to his office.

"What's seems to be the problem Ms. Xiao long?"

"What's my problem? My problem is my team. I don't want to be teamed up with team RWBY anymore."

"And why exactly do you want to leave the team? You worked so well together and managed to become a team to be reckoned with here at Beacon. Not to mention that your team is now known across the kingdom."

"I don't care about that. I don't want to be part of them any longer and I want you to make it official."

"Is it about Jay?" Ozpin asked. Raining one eyebrow and placing his coffee mug on his desk.

"How did you kn…"

"Winter told me about it. I'm sorry for your loss." Yang remained quiet. She didn't know how to respond.

"Do you wish to talk about it?" Yang nodded her head and sat down on a seat that was in front of Ozpin's desk.

"Now release all that anger, all that sadness… all that irritation out. No one here will think of you differently. I hope you understand that." Yang was a vessel full of wild emotions, unable to maintain one emotion for a few seconds. Ozpin could tell she had that all inside her due to her semblance activating, as if she had been getting beaten over and over again, unable to fight back an unknown force inside her. Her hair burning like the sun, her eyes crimson red like her mother's, and something else caught Ozpin's attention. Like her hair, her eyes had an intense yellow flame that flickered uncontrollably.

"JAY SACRIFICED HIMSELF TO SAVE ME! WHY ME! WHY COULDN'T HE THINK ABOUT HIMSELF!? WHY DID I HAVE TO GET CAPTURED!? WHY IS IT THAT NO MATTER HOW MUCH I PRACTICE, NO MATTER HOW MUCH I SWEAT, NO MATTER HOW MUCH BLOOD, TEARS, AND FEELINGS I PUT INTO MY TRAINING I COULD NOT SAVE HIM!? Why is he gone? Why did he leave me?" Ozpin showed no sign of being surprised. All his years, he has seen close friends die, close friends leave, and close friends walk out on him. He has had his share of anger, sadness, despair, tragedy… Yet here he was, listening to a young girl who was experiencing the loss of a companion first hand.

"Like you I had to witness one of my closest friends die in front of me during a mission. I've made mistakes that when I look back I wish I can go back and stop it from happening. Yet these mistakes made me the man I am today. Losing friends is what comes in the job description. A Huntress is there to put their lives before the people in order to protect the peace that they are trying to maintain. Jay sacrificed his life so that your sister, your friends, and your father wouldn't have to live a life without you. Jay took this to account, that is why he wanted you to continue living, not because he wanted you to turn away your friends, but to enjoy the time you still have with them. It's not a guarantee that they will be here forever." Yang understood what Jay wanted her to do, but she couldn't agree to his last request. She couldn't see her team the same anymore. They are the reason why Jay died, they are the reason why all of this is happening, yet she can feel a slight guilt.

"I will honor your request to remove you from the team, but I recommend you take some time to think about what you are about to do. It's not every day when someone wants to leave their team." Ozpin stated.

"I guess you're right. I should take some time to think about this. When I come up with my decision I will let you know professor." Yang got up and walked towards the elevator.

"Thank you Professor… I really needed that."

"That's why I'm here. I can only recommend you the path you should take. The final decision is up to you." Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and turned around to stare at the gorgeous scenery. Yang descended to the main floor while Ozpin remained seated.

"The path of hatred, the path of revenge, and the path of contempt are common routes these days. So many are lured into it and only a few are able to leave from it. I can only hope that you will be able to live through it Ms. Xiao Long. Jaune, Jay, and Raven are prime examples of people who walked each of those paths. I hope the day will not come when you yourself will become an example as well… Ms. Xiao Long."

* * *

After a few hours, Jaune had returned to Beacon. His team and friends were waiting patiently for an hour for his arrival. Jaune held a blood stained black duffle bag that he had taken from an empty home back in Mistral. Inside carried Adam's sheath and Katana, Pyrrha's Javelin, and her singed armor set that he had removed before cremating her.

"We thought you were in danger." Blake said.

"No… everything was fine." Jaune said. He unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out Adam's sheathed Katana and gave it to Blake. Her eyes widened at the sight of Adam's weapon, something that she did not expect Jaune to bring back.

"This…"

"It's Adam's weapon. You should keep it. It could come in handy one day." Jaune proceeded to walk towards Ren and whispered to his ear before heading inside the school. Blake continued to stare at Adam's weapon in awe. She unsheathed it and held the katana tightly in her dominant hand. She swung it around as if she had been training with it for years and with a smile, she returned inside the Academy as well.

"What did Jaune tell you Ren?" Nora asked. Ruby and the others pulled their attention towards the quiet fellow.

"Nothing important." Everyone returned to their rooms to study for an exam that had most of the students in Beacon rattled. As the sun began to set, many students were still roaming around the school, studying with their teams, friends, and instructors. The library was where a good portion of the students were at. Weiss and Blake were one of the many who studied for this exam. After studying for nearly 2 hours, they set the books aside and decided to take a small break.

"Hey Blake, have you spoken to Yang as of late?"

"No I haven't. She still doesn't want to talk to us it seems."

"Do you think that Ozpin allowed her to leave the team?"

"Honestly… I don't know. I hope he didn't. I can get this thought off my head. I could have gone with her to save Jay, but all I could ever think about at the time was Adam. I wanted to stop Adam myself, but things didn't go the way I planned. If I could, I would go back in time and change things differently"

"…"

"Why did you decide to stay with Jaune?" Blake asked.

"I… I thought that my skills would be necessary at the task that was in hand." Weiss crossed her arms and showed quite a bit of signs that she was lying.

"I know when you are lying Weiss. Tell me the truth."

"I am telling the truth. Why would I want to lie?"

"The fact that you blushed when I said Jaune gives me an idea of why you stayed with him."

"Shhh! Be quiet! No one can hear this. They'll start making up rumors." Weiss quietly yelled. Blake and Weiss looked around their surroundings, making sure no one was listening in to their conversation.

"You like him don't you?"

"Okay yes... I do. It didn't happen all in a day. It was just a small thing that grew as time passed. The Mistral thing was the breaking point. That's when I finally realized how I felt about him. You can't tell Ruby about this. If she finds out, who knows how she would feel and it could possibly break our team even further."

"I promise, but it's going to be difficult to hide your feelings in front of her. Sooner or later she'll find out and when she does, she will probably be mad for hiding it for so long."

"I'll handle it if it comes to that. At the moment, no one else can know about this."

* * *

"Are we going after Rhett?" Ren asked. Jaune and Ren were enjoying a milkshake at one of their favorite restaurants near Beacon. Back when they forgot about getting revenge, they would always come here with Jay to enjoy a milkshake after a long exhausting morning of school. Whenever they needed to relax, they would come here and enjoy themselves to various delicious shakes that they would consider the best shakes in the kingdom.

"Honestly, I don't think so."

"Why? He killed Jay and he is roaming around Mistral doing who knows what. He should be taken care of as soon as possible or others may suffer the same fate as our friend."

"I know… I know, but there is something that I have to tell you. I'm telling you this because I know you will understand the situation I'm in. This is the reason that I can't return to Mistral."

"What is it Jaune?"

"Shortly after I took out the Reactor, law enforcement caught me at the scene. Luckily I had my mask on or else my identity would have been revealed."

"So they're after you now?"

"That's what I think, but there's something else." Jaune at this point felt really uncomfortable talking about this. He made sure again that no one else in the proximity was listening or watching the discussion happen. Jaune had chosen a secluded table that was surrounded by walls and the only way people were able to listen in or see them was through the entrance.

"Jaune, you're kind of freaking me out here. What happened?"

"I cremated Pyrrha's remains. I didn't want to risk her being revived again by the Dark aura."

"So it was really Pyrrha?"

"Yeah… it was. After I had started burning her remains I fell asleep shorty after and woke up in a completely different part of Mistral and saw…"

"Saw what Jaune?"

"Saw…" Jaune's face grew pale and by him remembering what he saw made him feel as though he was about to vomit.

"Butchered… bodies. There were like 8 bodies there. The whole room looked as though it was dedicated to torturing and dismembering people."

"And you think you are the one that did it?" Ren asked curiously. He tried to piece the information he was getting together.

"I don't want to think that it was me who did it. The whole area was already being occupied by Grimm and I want to believe that it was them that caused it, but I'm just not sure."

"Jaune I've known you for quite a while now and I know for a fact that you wouldn't allow something like this to happen. Don't get stressed out over this. It wasn't you who caused that and you shouldn't beat yourself over it. The only thing you can do now is forget about it."

"Yeah… I guess you're right." Jaune didn't want to worry Ren even further by telling him about the voices he had heard, but decided it would be best not to mention that part.

"Ren, if I were to ever go… you know… dark side, I want you to make sure that I will never hurt another person again. I want you or anyone else in that matter to stop me… permanently."

"Don't talk like that Jaune. It will never come to that and even if it does, we would find a way to stop you… without having to kill you." Ren placed his hand on Jaune's shoulder to comfort him and make him not think about the possibility of that ever happening.

 _"_ _I honestly believe that my friends would never turn on me if things do ever go south."_ Jaune was certain that the voices he heard were wrong and something like that would never happen. The two enjoyed the remaining time reminiscing about their wonderful time in Beacon with Jay that cheered the two up a bit.

* * *

As the day grew dark, students returned to their dorm rooms and sleep in. Very few students roamed around the school, but Jaune had something to speak to Ozpin about. Jaune arrived to his office to talk about the situation he was in. He told him about the bloody encounter when he awoke from his sleep. This concerned Ozpin greatly and asked the Knight to not sleep in case something similar happens again.

"I will call Ironwood to advise him about the current situation at hand and I'm sure he will help us solve this problem. Until then, you cannot sleep whatsoever and if you can no longer stay up you will need to go far away from any place that could possibly be populated. We cannot risk you possibly going on a rampage. Do you understand Mr. Arc?"

"I…I understand. Call me when he does arrive." Jaune entered the elevator and begun his descent to the main floor. Upon reaching the floor he bumped into a familiar face. Velvet noticed Jaune and greeted him after not seeing for a while.

"Hi there Jaune!" Velvet exclaimed. Excited to see him.

"Hey there Velvet. Why are you still up? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

"I should, but I'm practicing my hand to hand combat. You see, although I am quite skillful with various weapons, there is a time where I can't use it and need to rely on my hands and feet to get me out of a situation. I was actually looking for Jay. I wanted to spar with me for a while. Have you seen him?"

"Oh… Jay. Yeah he uh… passed away yesterday on a mission."

"You're joking right?"

"No… no I'm not sadly."

"Oh… I'm sorry that I mentioned him."

"No. It's fine. If you want a sparring partner then allow me to help you out. Jay and I always sparred together and I was…"

"YES!" Velvet yelled. She didn't let Jaune finish his sentence. Her ears perked up and she was already filled with ecstasy knowing that Jaune offered to spar with her.

"Okay then. Lead the way." Jaune followed the excited Faunus to the sparring room where the two can engage in a friendly battle.

"So how's your team doing Velvet? I haven't seen them for a while."

"They're doing great. Coco and I have been practicing our combination attacks and I think we are at the point where we could possibly win the upcoming tag team tournament."

"You're participating in the tournament? That's great. I can't wait to see how the two of you perform."

"What about you? You're participating as well aren't you?" Jaune took a while to respond. He wasn't sure if he should or shouldn't. He couldn't risk the Darkness to be discovered, let alone his dark armor he gets when going to that mode. The tournament was said to be broadcasted world-wide and he would definitely get taken in for questioning by law enforcement if he does reveal it.

"I don't know. I am probably going to skip this tournament."

"What!? Why!? You're the best in Beacon. I'm sure there a lot of students here who want to see you in action. Especially those who want to have a match with you."

"I'm sure there are, but I'm not feeling up to it. Maybe the next tournament I will."

"That's a shame. At least I will get to see you in action personally." Jaune's face blushed. The way Velvet said it sounded like something Yang would say. It wasn't until Velvet saw Jaune's reaction when she blushed a lot more than he did. Her pace went faster than the usual, almost like she hoped that speeding up her pace she would lose Jaune. However the two made it to the sparring room and took their stance.

"So would you like me to go easy or hard on you?" Jaune asked.

"Whatever you prefer Jaune." Jaune again blushed at the response and just like earlier Velvet blushed immediately after, knowing how Jaune took the statement as.

"Read…" Jaune wasn't even given a small amount of time to ask her if she was ready. She came at him with the intention of beating him in this little sparring match. Her speed wasn't as fast as Ruby, but the fact that it wasn't her semblance caught Jaune by surprise. Her punches were manageable, but her kicks were something to be worried about. Jaune barely managed to avoid her kicks which moved a lot swifter than her fists. Compared to Jay, she was more highly formidable. Jaune prepared to block one of her kicks, knowing that at the pace she was kicking there was no possible way to continue avoiding it. The impact sent Jaune sliding away with a bit of shock. He didn't know Velvet was really quick on her feet and wondered why she allowed Cardin to bully her around about a year ago.

"Am I too much?" Velvet snickered at her question and Jaune smiled and gestured her to come at him. She sped towards him and swung her arm at him, hoping to land a punch on his face. Jaune however, already planned out how to take her down with ease. He quickly grabbed her forearm and pulled her towards him using the momentum of her swing. Once she took a step towards him, he kicked her foot that was holding all her weight and that caused her to fall to the ground. Jaune jumped back and smiled at the view.

"You're punches are too slow and predictable. Your kicks however, are powerful and swift. If I'm not careful, your kick could send me back to the infirmary."

"Then I will be the one who would need to watch over you again." Jaune smiled at her statement as she got up from the floor and cleaned herself up. Again, she sped towards him with quick and precise kicks this time however; Jaune was ready to take the brute force behind it. He dodged, blocked, and countered her attacks and only some were successful. She wasn't showing any signs of exhaustion however. The training exercise continued for more than 5 minutes, neither side backing down. Jaune was nowhere close from Jay's skills when it comes to close quarter combat, but give Jaune a sword and he would show you what it means to be a Another minute passed and the two were already at their limit. There swings, kicks, and overall movement were now sluggish. Jaune took a step back and slipped to which he quickly grabbed Velvet's hand to stop himself from falling, but Velvet was too tired to hold him and fell with him. The two opened their eyes and their lips were a few centimeters away from each other. Sweat trickled down Velvet's face and landed on Jaune's cheeks. Their hair soaked in sweat and their body emitting steam in the cold air would make people think that they have been engaging in an intense lewd act. After they regained some of their senses, the two already knew what the other was thinking. Velvet quickly got off of Jaune and he immediately apologized for what he had done. Jaune got up and offered to help her up since she was struggling to get back on her feet.

"What's wrong?"

"My legs." Velvet said, massaging her thighs and blushing intensely at the knight.

"They're really sore aren't they? Don't worry." Jaune turned to his back and crouched in front of her. He signaled her to get on his back so that she wouldn't have to walk all the way back to her dorm room.

"You don't have t…"

"Come on. Even I know you won't be able to make it up the stairs." Velvet agreed and held on tightly to the knight as he piggybacked her all the way to her dorm room.

"Your legs are definitely something you should use more than your fists. It seems you're more talented and a lot more dangerous might I add."

"I actually enjoy working out my legs. It helps me be quick on my feet."

"I can feel that." Jaune said.

"I'm sorry? What was that?" Velvet asked.

"Nothing!" Jaune quickly said. Realizing how his response came out as.

The two finally made it to Team CFVY dorm room. Jaune proceed to open the door and was greeted by Coco who was the only one still awake.

"Hi Coco"

"Hey there you two. If I didn't know any better, you two have been ban…"

"WE WERE JUST SPARRING THAT'S ALL!" Velvet yelled.

"Training… sure." Coco said.

"She couldn't get up here on her own so I thought it would be best if I carried her over here." Jaune said. Feeling exhausted after walking a flight of stairs.

"Well you could place her over there. I will be sure to help her to the shower… unless you want to join her inside." Coco said, pulling down her shade

"I wouldn't mind taking a hot shower myself now that I am thinking about it." Coco winked at Jaune to which he responded with a nervous smile and laughter.

"I'm actually needed somewhere else at the moment." Jaune walked inside and sat Velvet down on the chair.

"I'll have to accept your invitation another time. You know, when I'm not busy or anything. BYE!" Jaune hastily retreated towards his dorm room, taking a breather after an intense match. He entered the room quietly, hoping not to wake the others. He entered the bathroom and relaxed his muscles to a hot warm shower.

"This… this is what the doctor ordered."

 **Hey everyone and here is another chapter for all to enjoy. As you can see, I finally made a scene with a certain Faunus that someone wanted to see long ago. I keep my promises when I say that I will attempt something as long as it sticks with the story. I hope this chapter was good and I hope you stick around. I will see you all later!**


	23. Chapter 23 - Dark Urges

**Chapter 23 – Dark Urges**

"There I was, fighting 30 beowolfs while enjoying a nice warm meal. I could have been…" Professor Port said. He was telling the students a story of his youth that left many of the students half asleep. One of these students was Jaune who did not sleep the whole night. The fact that he attended class was a big mistake in his part.

"Pssst… Jaune." Ruby whispered. Jaune who could barely stay awake turned to Ruby in hopes that she can keep him awake.

"I want to know what caused you to take so long to get here. I thought you said that we will be leaving together back to Vale." Ruby bringing up the incident in Mistral wasn't the best thing to bring up right now. Jaune was already exhausted and her bringing that memory back up annoyed him.

"Nothing that you should know." Jaune focused his attention back at Port's story in hopes that Ruby would drop the question.

"What is that supposed to mean? You've been acting strange ever since we were about to leave at Mistral. The others might not see it yet, but I do. I won't stop bothering you until you tell me."

"Why do you continue to annoy me?" Jaune asked.

"What? You think I'm annoying?"

"huh? No wait… I didn't mean it like that." Jaune thought that he had said that in his mind. He already knew that he screwed up.

"We got into serious trouble Ruby. We lost Jay. How do you expect me to act? Happy? You want to see me smiling?"

"Mr. Arc! Do you care to tell us about one of your tales? I'm sure you have been on a mission that was exhilarating and I am confident that the rest of the class would like to hear it." Professor Port placed the spotlight on Jaune after catching him talking to Ruby.

"Yeah… tell us." Ruby crossed her arms and looked the other way, obviously upset about what Jaune said to her.

"I really don't have a story to tell Professor Port. If I did, I would love to tell you all about it."

"I'm sure you would Mr. Arc. Will you be attending the tournament that is coming up next month?"

"Unfortunately I'm not. I have a lot of things to take care of during that time."

"Surely you jest? Someone like your caliber should participate. You are one of our greatest students since…" Jaune already knew who he was going to mention, but luckily for him, Professor Port stopped himself before he could have finished his sentence.

"What I'm trying to say is that you should enter the tournament to hone your skills as a true Huntsman like me." The professor stood up straight with his chin high in the air as a sign of honor, integrity, and strength.

"Honing my skills? My skills at what exactly? Fighting Grimm?"

"Why yes, that's…"

"That's why we're becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses? Why don't we ever talk about the criminals, the terrorists, the corrupted individuals here at Beacon? This school makes it seem like the only thing we will be fighting out there will be Grimm, but that's all a lie. We'll be facing criminals who are watching and waiting to make their moves on the innocent people who are trying to make a decent living. What if some Huntsmen or Huntress turns dark side? That's not a rare thing that has happened in the kingdom. How can we stop someone who we have no knowledge on how to stop? What if one day I decide to betray my friends, my classmates, my companions? How will any of them fair against someone of my caliber?" The class remained quiet. They were all equally shocked at what was unfolding. Jaune took a breather and looked around the classroom and witnessed his fellow classmates staring at him, as if though he were a crazy lunatic.

"I…I'm sorry. I have been studying a lot as of late and I guess it's starting to get to me. Excuse me." Jaune proceeded to walk out the classroom and head towards the restroom to cool himself off.

"What was that about?" One of the students asked.

"I don't know, but he was kind of right though. That's all we ever talk about." Another student said.

"I think Ruby was right when she said something was off about Jaune." Weiss stated to Blake.

"You don't say?"

Jaune breathed heavily over the sink. He turned on the faucet and rinsed his face, hoping that it would calm him down. Upon raising his face and looking into the mirror, he noticed his right eye turning into its dark state.

 _"_ _No no no no NO! How is this happening?"_ Jaune continued to rinse his face off, hoping that it would disappear on its own after a short while, but after some time, it remained the same. He slowly begun to lose consciousness and immediately called Ozpin on his phone. He told him where he was and what was going on. After fighting so hard to stay awake, Jaune finally succumbed to his exhaustion and lost consciousness.

* * *

 _"_ _What will you do? Would you continue to help humanity or will you finally realize who you truly are?"_

 _"_ _It's… that voice again. That… same voice."_

 _"_ _You're walking down a path full of blood, despair, and anger. Do you think you will be able to deal with all that? Will you stay true to what you believe? What you want is Justice and Peace. Something that humanity obtains through war. Will you still attempt to obtain it through violent means? If sacrificing who you are to obtain this peace no matter how short it will remain, will you do it?"_ The voice asked Jaune.

 _"_ _I've endured the pain of losing someone I love… I will endure the pain of losing a friend. I will not succumb to the evil of this world in order to grasp it. I will bring about a change, a change that will remain on this world for a very…very long time. My gift… my curse… whatever anyone would like to think it is… it will help me on my dark journey to obtain it, if I have to sacrifice a few lives along the way… so be it."_

"Where am I?" Jaune awoke to a sight of Atlesian Knights completely destroyed in a fairly sized room. Multiple Atlesian Paladin's were torn limb to limb and the sight of it all seemed no different than the people who were butchered at the hands of Jaune in Mistral.

"Mr. Arc? Are you finally awake?" Jaune could not tell who was asking the question. The entire room was too bright for him to tell where the voice was coming from. After a few seconds of looking, Jaune realized that he was a in some sort of control room that was utterly destroyed.

"What happened here?" Jaune asked the stranger.

"You don't remember?"

"… Did I…"

"You went on a rampage after losing consciousness."

"DID I HURT ANYONE!? ARE MY FRIENDS FINE!?"

"Calm down Mr. Arc. You started to attack after you arrived to this facility a few hours later. We were running some tests on you to determine whether your brain waves were completely normal. They were fine… until you turned to your berserk state."

"… So I did kill those people back at Mistral."

"We will unlock the door behind you. Come join us so that we can discuss this problem of yours." Jaune proceeded to go past the broken and beaten up androids and open the door. Upon entering through it, he saw Ironwood, Ozpin, and a young man who seemed the same age as Jaune.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Jaune Arc. My name is Aero. You can pronounce it however you prefer, it doesn't offend me at all."

"Were you the one that was telling me about what had happened?"

"Yes I was. Professor Ozpin told me that you fell unconscious at the restroom and for safety reasons he took you here to one of General Ironwood's Psychiatric facilities here at Vale to fix the problem you seem to have.

"So this is a mental disorder now?"

"It doesn't matter what it is. The reason why you are here is because you can't control these violent urges when you are asleep. You're here to allow us to figure out a way to fix you." Aero pulled out a paper with Jaune's brain waves that he had taken while Jaune was asleep. The paper contained Jaune's brain waves prior to his berserk state and on the back of the paper was his brain waves seconds before going to his berserk state.

"Take a look at this. Your brain waves were perfectly fine… well, for a student who hasn't slept for a whole day."

"It was to avoid having this problem from happening again."

"Yeah I'm sure it was. Now if you turn the paper around, you will see your brain waves seconds before you turned on us."

"I don't know if you know this, but I'm no majoring in this kind of stuff."

"Your delta waves were higher than a normal person during a deep sleep. The waves basically looked like that of a person's beta wave when angry… well, more like he carried the wrath of god."

"How do we turn it back to normal?"

"That is the task that I was given by General Ironwood. I will try to find out a way to fix this problem and until we do, you will be staying here with me."

"No. I'm not staying here. I may have a problem, but I can't stay here all day. I have school work and friends that need company back at Beacon."

"Jaune, we need to find a way to stop this serious problem you have."

"Don't talk as if I were someone who was insane. I can fix this problem by myself. All I need to are some brain exercises and not go to sleep now and then."

"Oh yeah definitely. I heard that some anti-depressants will definitely stop a soon to be blood thirsty insomniac from killing a handful of people."

"You told him?" Jaune was angry at the fact that Ozpin told someone else about the killing incident in Mistral.

"It's better this way Mr. Arc. If you go on a rampage again at school, you could end up killing those who are close to you. I understand how frustrating this is for you, but this is for the best." Ironwood said.

"Well I don't need him to stay here all day long. He can come here after school since that would help me understand what gets him angry, upset, depressed, etc."

"Well… if it helps you with Mr. Arc's problem so be it. It's getting late it seems. I should head back to the school with General Ironwood. We will stay in touch." Ozpin proceeded to walk out the door with General Ironwood following behind. Jaune however, didn't agree to any of this and made it clear through his anger.

"Don't I have a say in it? I'm not staying here at all." Jaune took a step forward, but then was grabbed by Aero who placed his hand on Jaune's head and made him fall unconscious once more.

"You have anger problems Jaune. Serious… anger problems."

* * *

"What… what happened?" Jaune asked Aero who was sitting by a computer monitor across the room.

"You were upset at Ozpin for allowing me to help you with your problem, so I took the liberty of rendering you unconscious for the sake of us not having to listen to your tantrum."

"How did you do that?"

"The same way you are able to create black flames, black portals, and control over polarity."

"How do you kno…"

"I saw it all when you went berserk the other day."

"Oh." Jaune go out of bed and walked towards Aero to look at what he was inspecting.

"You didn't go on another killing spree last night."

"Can you please not say that."

"Say what?"

"Killing spree."

"Fine... Murder spree"

"…"

"What?" Aero asked, having a puzzling look on his face.

"Anyways, you didn't attack anything during your sleep last night. Your brain waves were completely normal and not a single thing was strange."

"Told you all I needed was some sleep."

"But I don't quite understand. Why did you not continue your destructive pattern? Did you feel anything strange last night? Anything at all?"

"Nothing that I can remember. Seemed like a pretty normal night." Aero continued to scroll through the information he had gathered that night and went over it multiple times. He did not find a single thing that seemed abnormal and pulled out a soda out of a fridge that was next to him.

"Before this violent urge occurred, did something happen to you? A traumatic moment or something similar to that?" Jaune was hesitant to tell him about what he had done, but in order to figure out the problem he felt that he had to reveal what had happened prior to his destructive nature.

"Well, I could tell you, but it is a long story and I'm sure you don't have time to listen to…"

"There's no need to tell me."

"What?" Jaune was immediately caught off guard by Aero's hand that was placed on his head. In a brief moment, Jaune had images of his past playing in his head. He saw images of Pyrrha's death at Beacon, images of him obtaining his Dark power, images of the incident in Mistral, everything he had remembered in his life… he saw.

"What the hell just happened!?" Jaune asked. An intense pain was surging through his head after Aero placed his hand on Jaune's head.

"I took a closer look at your memories."

"You can't just go into someone's memories without consent!"

"I actually have authorization to do that. The moment Ozpin brought you here was the moment I was allowed to do anything in order to help you." Jaune was still rubbing his head to ease the pain that slowly disappeared.

"Don't worry about it. Every small bit of information obtained will be strictly confidential. No one else will ever know about this besides me of course. However I must ask. How do you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Continue living." Jaune was shocked at what he was hearing. He had never been asked this question by anybody let alone a stranger. A stranger who learned every bit of information about him in a span of a few seconds."

"I… I…"

"I've known many people who went through many hardships in their lives and only a few of them barely managed to continue living. The rest of them ended their lives because they could not endure the pain of living in this world. Yet here you are, still walking among the living as someone who seeks a better future for not only himself, but for everyone in this world."

"I don't know how to answer that question. I have yet to find an answer myself, but like you said. I am looking for a way to bring as much peace as I can for as long as I can. I've lost a lot of things. I don't want any other person to feel the pain that I must endure."

"I see." Weeks passed by and Jaune only went berserk a few times. Jaune would go to school, spend a few hours to do what he pleased and returned after sunset. Little did Aero know that he had been doing some questionable after school activities. Jaune has been doing vigilante work around Vale during those few weeks. Some days he would go around Vale, looking for any armed robberies occurring and stopping muggers from possibly taking someone's life. This process continued for a month until Jaune's work has finally been getting attention.

"With the recent drop of crimes, Verdana has now dropped to 4th highest crime rate in Vale. The recent drop of crime rates has to be the work of a dark masked individual. Witnesses say that a black masked/hooded individual has been overseeing the safety of the citizens of Vale and other neighboring cities. We asked city officers about the recent events that have been transpiring relating to this hooded individual."

"We understand that this "masked hero" intends to help the people of Vale, but killing some of these alleged criminals is not allowed in our city. He or she is taking their own understanding of justice and using it as his or her judgement. That is not something we the officers of Vale can agree with. That is why law enforcement in Vale and neighboring cities have decided to track down this vigilante and arresting him for crimes he has committed. We will address the crimes when we catch this criminal and anyone who has seen or may know the whereabouts of this person can call their local police department." Aero looked at Jaune with a blank expression.

"What?" Jaune asked.

"You have taken law into your own hands?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Jaune… I don't care what you do after school, but when you are out there doing that, you should tell me because that could be vital information to your problem."

"What do you mean vital information?" Aero walked over to his computer and pulled out files from certain dates.

"Tell me… when did you start doing this vigilante work of yours?"

"… I started about a week after meeting you." Aero looked at the file of the date he had begun to stop crimes in cities.

"I understand now. I understand everything."

"What!? What do you understand?" Jaune asked, impatiently waiting for an answer.

"Do you enjoy helping these people?"

"Yeah of course I did. I'm doing something that I feel will help this city and kingdom become a better place."

"I see, and before you went berserk the 2nd time, were you upset?"

"Upset?"

"Upset, frustrated, furious, angry, any negative emotion?"

"I was upset about the school not paying any interest about criminals across Vale."

"And how angry were you?"

"Angry to the point where I lost myself in thought."

"Interesting. The amount of Dark aura you possess has been taking a negative toll on you, literally."

"What are you trying to say aero?"

"I could I have completely miss this." Aero pulled out various files containing information about Jaune's aura levels, chemical levels, and cat scans.

"The dark aura is slowly trying to consume you."

"What!?" Jaune panicked. He was frightened at the thought of him turning something that he does not want to be and possibly go on a murdering spree that could take many lives including his friends.

"You're kidding right? There has to be some way for me to control myself. Maybe I can release some of my Dark energy."

"No, that would bring terrible consequences."

"What? Why? What makes you think that?"

"I've been reading up about this aura you have from Ozpin's books. Although some pieces are missing in the information I obtained, but it says that you can only release the Dark onto another host."

"That means…"

"Someone will have to be a vessel for the Dark aura to allow you regain control over it rather it having control over you." Jaune didn't want someone else to have this terrible burden. Pyrrha was a vessel of the Dark aura and look what that turned her. He couldn't possibly allow someone else end up the same way she did. He has to find some other way to control his urges, his power in order to protect rather than to destroy.

"Does the book say anything about where the first encounter of the dark aura came from?" Jaune asked.

"Well the book seems a bit inconsistent, but it stated that the birthplace of men began in a forest called Shadow woods."

"Where is this shadow woods at?"

"Let me find out." Aero searched on the web of any location that had the name shadow woods and found over 26 search results of forests named the same thing across remnant.

"Dammit."

"What would going into this forest do?" Aero asked.

"There's bound to be someone who passed down information to the next generation. My friend Jay was given practices on how to do certain things that other families are not able to do. If Jay was passed down that information, I'm sure I'll find someone else who knows everything that I need to know." Aero looked at the book with worried expression.

"Very well." Aero said.

"Very well?"

"Wait a few seconds." Aero said. He placed his hand on the old book and his eyes glowed for a few seconds before he dropped the book and collapsed to the floor.

"Aero! What's wrong!?"

"I… I absorbed every bit of information the book had. Well not exactly what was written in there, but the memories left in it."

"Memories left in it?"

"This book is like a memento. Everything that happened to the person who wrote down this book and others who took hold of it gave me every bit of information about each of their lives, where they lived, and where they died."

"That… that's amazing. That semblance is something that humanity could use to solve unsolved mysteries of the world Aero."

"That's just it. What would humans do with these mysteries Jaune? If they ever find out about the Darkness, what would you think they would do?" Jaune remained quiet. He knew exactly what someone with evil intent would do with a terrifying power that he possessed.

"The location is here." Aero pointed on the map where the forest was at. It was located in a forested area that has been deserted for centuries. The information on the web says that the area has not been populated due to an electronic interference that disables all electronics in a 50 mile radius and anyone could easily get lost since compasses malfunction every single time.

"Aero, you're bleeding." Aero nose had begun to bleed after using his unique semblance.

"It… it happens. It takes way more aura than using it on someone's mind."

"But are you sure you want to go?" Aero asked.

"I have to." Jaune quickly got up and headed towards the exit.

"You're going right now?"

"I'm going to tell Ozpin about it first… then I'll be heading out." Jaune exited the structure and headed towards the school to advice Ozpin about the trip. Aero sat back and turned back to the news channel where they talked about Jaune's vigilante work.

"With the help of Vacuole military force, the kingdom in Mistral was able to maintain control over 70% of its land. Investigators who looked into the suspicious black beam from more than a month ago say that could possibly have found a lead on the terrorist who caused this giant catastrophe. They say that they will tell us about the person of interest later tonight."

"Jaune… your destiny is shrouded in mystery. Will you still be able to continue walking in this dark time of ours?"

 **Hey everyone! Here is another chapter for all to enjoy. If you don't know already, some of these chapters have dark souls inspired ideas and one of these ideas will be coming in the later chapters. For all you dark souls fans out there, you might know what might be coming for Jaune, but for those who don't know, it might be exciting once you find out. It might or might not be exciting to those who hate dark souls or never played it, but I hope you still find some enjoyment in reading it. I hope everyone has a wonder Monday which is highly unlikely, but I hope my chapter will make it a bit better. I will see you all later!**


	24. Chapter 24 - Blackout

**Chapter 24 – Blackout**

 _"_ _I have no other choice but to go. If I don't stop myself, I will end up doing more harm than good. Even if there is a 0.1% percent chance of someone actually able to help with my problem then it will be worth it."_

"Did you hear about the announcement today in the local police department?" One of the people of Vale said.

"Of course I did. I can't believe the police are going to arrest our vigilante hero." Another said.

 _"_ _Hero."_

"The poor man doesn't deserve this. It should be obvious to the police department that this black knight only wants what is best for the people."

"He has done more that any law enforcement in the kingdom could ever do. I heard crime has been in an all-time low since he first appeared here…"

"I feel safe knowing that there is someone at night who is watching over our safety."

 _"_ _When I listen to more of these conversations, the more I feel compelled to believe that the voice in my head is wrong. The complete opposite is happening. Instead of the people going against me, they trust me. I have nothing to be afraid of."_

Jaune arrived at Beacon and headed towards Ozpin's office, but was stopped by Velvet who called out to him.

"Jaune!"

"Oh… hey there Velvet, what's up?"

"I was thinking that maybe we should change up tonight's practice up a bit. I can invite Coco to team up with you and spar against me. I want to see if I can keep up with fighting two rather than just one."

"I'm sorry Velvet, but I have a mission on my hands for the week. When I come back I will be sure to assist you."

"Oh… well ok." Jaune walked away from the Faunus to Ozpin's direction.

"Take care!"

* * *

"Where did you get this information from?" Ozpin asked Yang.

"While everyone was too busy with school work, I was looking into the recent kidnappings that were connected to Rhett."

"Why do I find that hard to believe?" Ozpin took a sip from his coffee and looked over the notes and pictures Yang had been gathering.

"I may not be as good as Jaune, Qrow, or… Jay, but I can do a little research of people I'm personally interested in and find their location."

"So then I take it that Ruby, Ren, and Nora have agreed to join your little crusade?"

"That's right!" Nora exclaimed.

"Well, I thought this over many times and I think it should be obvious that this man is too dangerous to still be roaming free in Remnant." Ren said, trying to hide that he wants some revenge for his friend.

"I'm ready for anything that comes my way. This mission will be over quick and Rhett will already be behind bars before the end of the week."

"You do know that I've seen countless of trained Huntsmen and Huntresses take on the task of arresting Rhett this past month, and less than half returned with poor results."

"What happened to the others?"

"I haven't heard from them. They have yet to return or call back."

"Oh…" Ruby and the others would be lying if they said this statement did not frighten them.

"But unlike the people who went after him, they don't know Rhett as much as I do. He won't be able to pull the same trick twice on me." Yang was confident in her skills as a Huntress in training. She had developed her skills further than she had while training alongside Jay. The others did not know this, but Yang had actually opened the glyph/sigil covered box that Jay had locked away from the others and hidden inside his hidden room. Inside the box she had found a pair of Gauntlets that looked very similar to hers, but with tiny glyphs/sigils on it. She already knew at that moment, it was supposed to be a present for her. During the time when Jay had been sparring with her, he would spend most of his time cooped up in his hidden room working on something in his workbench. Jay never talked about it with anybody and simply said it was a surprise. After a few weeks using it, Yang had already figured out the purpose for the handmade glyphs. Not only that, but she also found a knife and a single-shot hand gun. The handgun she figured was the gift that was supposed to be given to Ash, but she already knew why that didn't happen. Just like her new gauntlets, the knife and handgun also had carved symbols on it that peaked Yang's interest. She kept the weaponry and locked away the box at Jay's room and said no word about it.

"Are you sure you all want to do…" The sound of the elevator caught everyone's attention and out came Jaune with a surprised look on his face, realizing that the others were here as well.

"Jaune are you also helping with Yang's mission?"

"No he isn't." Yang quickly answered.

"Mission? What mission?"

"Nothing that concerns y…"

"She found Rhett's location and intends to stop him, with the help of Ms. Rose, Ren, and Ms. Valkyrie of course." Jaune looked at the others, slightly irritated that they didn't say anything to him about this.

"No… no I'm not. I'm actually here to talk to you about something else. A mission that I want to go to. I see now isn't really the best of time to discuss this, so I will be back in a different time."

"What kind of mission are you thinking of going?" Ruby asked.

"Just your everyday regular mission. Taking out some Grimm that are becoming a problem in some rural parts of Vale."

"I know you're lying. Why do you continue to keep things away from us?" Ruby demanded to know. Jaune over the past month has been constantly avoiding her constant questions about where he goes after school and continues to be almost like a nuisance to Jaune.

"Mr. Arc, I think Ms. Rose and the rest of your friends have the right to know what you are hiding from them." Jaune glared at Ozpin for admitting that he is indeed hiding something.

"What exactly are you hiding from us Jaune?" Nora asked.

"I'm not hiding anything Nora. Professor Ozpin seems to be confusing me with someone else who is hiding stuff. Am I right Professor?" Ozpin simply sipped his warm coffee and continue to stare at the knight who was hoping for a response.

"Let it go Ruby. It's obvious that Jaunney boy doesn't trust his friends with secrets." Yang said. She made sure that Jaune heard every single word that came out of her mouth.

"Yet you are the one that has been keeping something like this from me." Jaune replied.

"Why would you care? You've said it yourself that you don't want to go after Rhett!"

"Who told you…" Jaune looked at Ren who was just as surprised as Jaune.

"I wanted her to calm down so I thought that by telling her that it could help her…"

"There's no reason to make him understand Ren. He is too overconfident with his own power that he has completely disregarded how his friends feel and what they want."

"Is… is that what you think? Is that what you all think? You all think that I don't care about any of you?" Jaune asked the others. Ren already knew that wasn't true, but did not say anything that could reveal what Jaune has been hiding. Ruby and Nora nodded in agreement with Yang's statement. Jaune took a deep breath and turned to Ozpin.

"I'm leaving to the mission and it will take me up to a week to complete. Whether you allow me or not, I don't care. I am just here to advise you about it. I will send you more information about it on my way over there." Jaune turned around and returned to the elevator.

"Jaune! Wait!" Ruby yelled. The door immediately closed before she could stop him.

"Professor what exactly is going on with Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"I think you should all know what is wrong with Jaune. He can't keep this a secret for long and I think as Jaune's close friends, you should know."

Jaune went to his room to pack his stuff for the trip and made sure he had everything he'll need for the trip. He unsheathed his sword and looked at it confused by the weird material that covered parts of his sword's blade. At first he thought it was rust, but closer inspection made him think that it must be something completely different.

"Hey, Jaune." Blake who just entered the room greeted the knight who was inspecting his sword.

"Oh… hey Blake. What brings you here?"

"I was hoping to find Ruby here since she likes to spend most of her time with you, but it seems she isn't here."

"Well Ruby is with my team speaking to Professor Ozpin about something."

"Did she tell you about what they were going to discuss?"

"There was no need since Ozpin was the one who told me. You already knew about their plan didn't you?"

"Yeah I did, but I told Yang not to go."

"She is hell bent on getting revenge and I don't blame her. I did the same for Pyrrha so I can see why she desperately wants to go." Jaune said, trying to remove the dark material that partially covers his sword.

"So have you finally mastered that katana I gave you?" Jaune asked.

"I haven't mastered it yet, but I am getting there. I actually got it customized to my preferred color. How does it look?" Blake unsheathed the Katana and showed it to Jaune who inspected it. The blade was now black instead of red and the handle was white.

"I see you still have your other weapons still."

"Well you can never be too prepared when getting into a fight."

"You got that right. Anyways, I have to get going. It's been nice talking to you Blake." Jaune returned the Katana and headed straight towards the door.

"Wait... where are you going?" Blake asked, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I have a mission to go to and I don't want to be late."

"How about I go with you? I haven't been on a mission yet and I've been waiting to try out the weapon on a couple of Grimm to see whether I improved or not."

"I'm sorry, but it's a mission specifically for me."

"You're acting the same way Yang is acting right now. You know you can't do everything by yourself right Jaune?" Jaune took a moment to think about the way he is doing things. He is keeping his close friends in the dark. Not telling them anything that is going on with him which he finds very difficult to do, but he knows that he can't involve them with the possibility of him accidentally killing one of them.

"I know that Blake. It's an easy job and I want some time to myself. You know." Jaune put up a fake smile, hoping that it was enough to convince Blake that nothing out of the ordinary and it worked.

"Well when you come back, I want to do a quick sparring match with you to see how good I have gotten."

"I hope you will go easy on me." Jaune exited the door and headed out to his trip which will determine whether he can get this problem fix or he will have to live with it for the rest of his life. He knows that this is his only hope to cure his midnight madness.

* * *

"Why is that ship taking so long!?" Jaune yelled. He has been waiting impatiently for the last 20 minutes with the rest of the people who were waiting for the ship to arrive at the dock. As Jaune looked at his watch, someone behind jumped on top of him and the two fell to the ground with the person on top of the knight.

"Hiya Jaune! I will be your partner for the trip!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked down at the knight who had an upset look on his face.

 _"_ _Why do you enjoy being practically glued to me Ruby?"_

"Ruby… do you mind getting off of me. People will get the wrong idea by the way you're sitting." Jaune said. Ruby looked a bit confused and looked around to see everyone staring at the two. She quickly got back up and helped him clean himself off.

"Why do you insist on following me wherever I go? You're like an obsessed girlfriend who would make most guys somewhat afraid… and that's pretty hard to do."

"Well you keep lying to me about how you have been feeling and it's my job to make sure you're fine."

"You sound a lot more like a mother than a friend you know that?"

"Well I don't see myself as your mother. I see myself as a grown woman who is ready to take on the challenge called life!" Ruby raised her arm in excitement which made Jaune crack a genuine smile.

"It's nice that you care a lot about me Ruby, but you should head back to Beacon. You can't come with me. I will be back in a week and it isn't really something so complicated that I would need backup." Jaune looked over the horizon and noticed the ship closing in towards the doc.

"Professor Ozpin already told me what you did and what is wrong with you. I'm here to make sure you don't lose yourself again."

"So you already know." Jaune pulled out some money from his backpack and handed it to Ruby to which she gave a confused look to him.

"What's this for?"

"Well, you're not going to be able to get on the ship without any money right?" Ruby smiled and hugged the knight tightly. Jaune was surprised at first, since it has been a long time since he felt the Ruby embraced him.

"Okay that's enough. If you keep hugging me people are going to think we are a couple." Jaune said, trying to get Ruby's arms off of him.

"And that's a bad thing?" Ruby tightened her arms around him, making him lose air in his lungs.

 **An hour Later…**

"No Zwei! Don't do that! Stop biting that! Stop Zwei that tickles!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Why did you bring your dog here? Do they even allow pets on the ship?" Jaune asked.

"Well if they didn't before, they do now!" Zwei walked over to Jaune and sat in front of him. Jaune looked at the black haired pooch that continued to stare at him with an obvious smile.

"What do you want?" Jaune asked. Zwei barked at Jaune who looked puzzled.

"Do you want a tre…" Zwei jumped on Jaune who fell to the floor with Zwei licking his face joyfully.

"Zwei likes you! He knows a good person when he sees him!" Ruby exclaimed

"I'm sure… he does." Jaune getting a barrage of licks from a happy Zwei.

"Did your dad send him to you today or what?"

"Yeah he did. He said he was leaving for the week and needed me to take care of him. Yang was going to leave so I couldn't leave him by himself."

"What about Blake? I'm… sure she wasn't… planning to do anything. How much… stamina does this corgi have?" Zwei was still licking the knight's face who wasn't really putting up a fight.

"Well Blake gets uneasy around Zwei so that was out of the question." Ruby said. She was lying down on her bed and scrolling through her phone.

"What about Weiss?" Jaune said, getting up from the floor with Zwei on his arms.

"Weiss was too busy with school work and I already knew that she won't have time to take care of him." Jaune walked over to Ruby and placed the pooch on her belly which caused her to let out a loud "Umpf".

"I can't believe this is the only room available to us." Jaune looked around with an upset look.

"Well technically it's a room for two, but with only one bed that can hold two." Ruby said, placing her finger high in the air.

"Well I guess I can sleep on the floor. Unless Zwei here doesn't like to share."

"Well Zwei always slept on Yang's or my bed at night. He doesn't like sleeping on the floor unless it's the only place he can sleep at the time."

"Floor it is then." Jaune placed covers on the floor, hoping that it would be comfortable enough for him to sleep on.

"Why don't you sleep here with me?" Ruby asked. Patting the side of the bed to show Jaune where he can lay down.

"I can't sleep on the same bed with you."

"Why not?"

"Well… you know."

"You know what?"

"… Never mind, I just remembered I can't sleep."

"Oh right… that problem."

"Yeah… I'm just going to stay up drinking a lot of caffeine."

"You could at least lay down for a bit. Zwei and I can stay awake with you to keep you from snoozing off." Zwei turned to Jaune who looked at him and barked in agreement.

"Well thanks for the offer, but I'm fine with drinking caffeine." Ruby scowled at the black knight and slammed her hands down repeatedly on the side of the bed till he lay next to her. This kept on going for a few minutes until Jaune finally gave in to her demands and joined her and Zwei on the bed.

"It's still a bit too early to go straight to sleep. Why don't we order some food? I haven't eaten all day." Jaune said. Ruby agreed and they both ordered food and had a fun time. They were cracking jokes, showing each other funny pictures over the internet, and playing with Zwei. It's been too long since Jaune had the opportunity to act as a teen and not as a grown man. The sky grew dark and Ruby was already soundly asleep next to Jaune. She had her head on Jaune's chest and the sound of his heart beating caused her to slowly drift off to sleep. Jaune slowly placed the delicate Rose on the bed and pull the sheets over her to keep her nice and warm. He quietly walked over to the door to exit the room to feel the cool ocean breeze. He proceeded to walk over to the front deck and stared at the moon. Mesmerized by the glowing light it gave off. It shined across the ocean to the point where Jaune could see the neighboring islands. A few minutes after looking at the beautiful scenery, he heard the sounds of an animal's footsteps behind him. He turned to the side and noticed Zwei walking towards him and stopped next to him. Zwei sat down, looked at the shattered moon and howled. Zwei's howl caught Jaune off guard and felt an unfamiliar aura approaching to his direction. Before he could do something, Zwei had already rushed into his sweater to hide.

"Hello sir, you don't happen to have heard a howl did you?"

"A howl? I didn't hear anything. Maybe it was the ship or something."

"Perhaps you are right sir. Sorry to have bothered you. I will leave you to your peaceful night."

"Thank you." The old employee walked off to the opposite direction and Jaune breathed out once he vanished.

"I really hope that you won't give me a hard time just like now." Jaune said to the pooch. Zwei popped his head out of Jaune's sweater and licked him.

"Okay okay you're welcome." Jaune said, chuckling at the pooch.

"Well, it looks like we'll be here for a while. This ship is going to take about 3 days till we finally reach the closest city. I would have like it better by airship, but knowing Ozpin he would simply reject it and make me stay there or something. Then I again, I was being a little brat." Jaune sat down on a chair and stood up all night gazing at the night sky along with his newly friend Zwei.

* * *

After 3 days of staying fully awake, Jaune was already giving in and was ready to sleep. Ruby however was the only reason why he managed to stay up all day and night in the past days. The three adventurers reached the nearest city at noon. Jaune's mind was clouded and he found it difficult to retain his focus on one single thing. Luckily Ruby was there to basically be his mind and legs. They whistled for a taxi and were now headed to their destination. However, they would only be able to go by vehicle in a certain distance. The rest needed to be on foot since any electronic device becomes useless to use. While on the road, Ruby hoped that by talking to Jaune constantly, that would prevent him from going to sleep which somewhat worked.

"So we are supposed to walk all the way over there after getting off?"

"…Yeah. The reason for that is because once you pass through a certain distance, everything that we use that is powered by electricity would no longer be powered, meaning that if a vehicle were to pass, it would just turn off. We are going to need to walk a total of 50 miles (80 Km) to reach the area."

"WHAT!? I can't walk that much! My legs would get tired and where would we sleep!? I'm pretty sure we won't be able to make it there today!"

"You said you wanted to come. Now you have to deal with it." Jaune began getting irritated by Ruby's voice which he couldn't control since he was heavily exhausted and simply wanted to sleep.

"What about food, water, and supplies!?" Ruby continued to shout.

"We are going to stop by in a few minutes to get all that. Driver… can you take us somewhere close by that sells camping supplies?"

"Sure no problem." The 30 year old looking driver took them to the closest store he knew and all three entered the tore to purchase all the necessary things for the long walk. After a few minutes of gathering the items, Jaune and Ruby went to the checkout and Jaune noticed a television that was showing the news.

"The search for a student from Beacon Academy continues across Vale. Investigators say that the student named Jaune Arc could be responsible for the killings of criminals across several cities. In addition to that, they have video evidence of him killing an important member of the White Fang organization. Investigators believe that he was involved with the tragic incident in Mistral that caused all the creatures of Grimm to invade parts of the kingdom." Jaune saw that they placed in image of his school picture and had no choice, but to place his hoodie over his head and walk out the store.

"Do you think he really caused the Grimm to invade Mistral?" One of the employees asked a customer.

"I don't think so. Why would he want to do something like that and clean out crimes in several cities?"

After making it outside, Jaune entered the taxi and waited for Ruby for her return. After several minutes of waiting she exited the store and hastily walked towards the vehicle and got in.

"Why did you rush out like that? You could have at least helped with the bags you know?"

"I'll explain later. Get in." The taxi driver was reading the local newspaper when all of a sudden Jaune noticed that he was in a page where it had the same image of him in the news.

"We're ready driver. You can go now." Jaune said. The driver stopped for a moment and didn't move a muscle.

"I said… we're ready to go." Jaune this time said it with a somewhat sinister voice. The driver did what he asked without saying a word. After an hour on the road again, the driver slowly pulled out his phone and began to dial someone.

"Who are you calling?" Jaune asked.

"Oh… I'm just calling a friend to see uh… how he is doing." Jaune raised his arm and used his polarity semblance to pull the driver's phone out of his hands and onto his.

"Jaune what are you doing?" Ruby asked, confused of what was happening.

"Let's make this clear… you're going to take us where we need to go and you won't do anything rash or else the only thing your friend will ever see… is your body without a head."

Ruby's face grew pale and was shocked of what Jaune just said.

"Ruby… the newspaper and the news on the television… law enforcement is looking for me."

"Wait… what why?"

"They think that I am somehow involved with the incident in Mistral." Ruby grabbed the newspaper that was on the driver's lap and read the article.

"What… what are we going to do?"

"You aren't doing anything. They are looking for me and only me at the moment. I'm not sure if they also have video evidence of you and the rest of the teams. We are still going to shadow woods. Once I fix my problem… I'll find a way to fix this one."

 _"_ _How, where and when did they manage to get proof of me being there? Neo took out the cameras and most likely destroyed any video evidence of us being inside the facility. Wait… if it was footage from the facility, they would have also announced Ruby as well. I need to figure out where they got the video from."_

After several hours on the road, they finally reached their stop. The vehicle could no longer go further inside. Jaune, Ruby, and Zwei got off the vehicle with their supplies and Jaune signaled her to go on ahead. Although they still needed to walk, they had to stop in front of a green forest. It seems that nature had taken more of the land than Jaune initially thought. Jaune struggled to walk over to the driver seat to tell the man a few things before he leaves.

"If you tell anyone about this… I will make it my mission to track you down and slowly kill you. I wrote down the license plate of your taxi and it will take me no time at all to find out where you live. Do you understand?" The black veins slowly spread through his cheeks and this frightened the grown man and all he could do was nod his head in agreement.

"Good. Here's the money we owe you." Jaune handed the driver a lot more money than he expected.

"Why… why give me more than the actual… amount?" Jaune showed the phone that the driver used to call his so called "Friend" and burned it in the palm of his hand.

"You're going to need to buy a new phone when you return to the city." Jaune turned around and wobbled his way toward Ruby's direction. The driver drove off in great speed, never looking back at what could have been his last cab fare he would have ever done.

 **An hour later…**

Jaune collapsed to the ground and sat back on a tree. He grabbed two items from his backpack and gave it to Ruby to hold.

"Handcuffs? Rope? What's this for?" Ruby asked.

"You're going to tie me to this tree and make sure I don't get out."

"Wait… no I'm not going to."

"Dammit Ruby… listen to me. I'm… I'm about to pass out any second now and when that happens there's no telling what kind of person I'll be. These handcuffs will suppress my aura, but not stop me from going on a rampage." Jaune positioned himself to allow Ruby to handcuff him.

"Hurry up!" Jaune yelled. Ruby had no choice but to do what he said for her own sake. She handcuffed him and tied him down to the tree, making sure that the rope was tight and would not allow him to move around. Zwei simply looked at Jaune who was now ready to lose consciousness.

"Hey Zwei… you're about to… see a person that is not me. Don't think that this person… is the actual me because it's not."

"All done Jaune." Ruby said. Jaune could tell that Ruby felt as if she were betraying her own friend.

"Ruby… whatever I say after I go to sleep… don't do anything. Don't listen to me… don't let your feelings get in the way. Make sure I stay like this. If you notice that I'm about to get out… kill me." Jaune passed out and the last thing he said made her tear up.

"It won't come to that. I won't do that. I… I love you."

A few minutes passed and Ruby kept her full attention on the blonde knight who was sleeping soundly in front of the tree. She looked at Zwei who was lying down and doing the same exact thing she was.

"It seems Jaune isn't going to go berserk huh." Ruby told the corgi. Immediately after saying that, the blonde knight raised his head and looked at the rose who had a shocked look on her face.

"J…Jaune?" Ruby called out to the student who made no sudden movement at all.

"Jaune… c… can you hear me?"

"Hey Ruby…" the black knight said. He stared at her with a smile that somewhat made her uneasy.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked. The black veins slowly reappeared on his cheeks and his eyes slowly descended to its dark state. Zwei immediately got up and began to growl at the boy who he shared a bond with.

"Never have I been better."

 **Hey everyone! Here's another chapter for all to enjoy. It's a lot longer and I think this is the longest chapter I have ever done. I hope that it doesn't bother you and if it does, I apologize. I never thought that this chapter would be so long and the chances of chapter being long as this is pretty small. Anyways thank you all for continuing to read these chapters and I hope you stick around till the end. I will see you all next time!**


	25. Chapter 25 - The Watchers

**Chapter 25 – The Watchers**

"Jaune… are… are you alright?" Ruby asked cautiously. Jaune turning into his darker self, caught Ruby by surprise.

"I'm fine Ruby. Why wouldn't I? Can you please remove the ropes for me? It seems like I regained my stamina again. It's pretty… weird." Jaune said.

"I… I don't know. Maybe we should leave you like that a little longer, just… just to be sure."

"Ruby… I'm fine. Really I am… see?" Jaune smiled at the rose, but his smile felt too sinister for Ruby, as if that smile was comprised of nothing but pure lies. A smile that only a deceiver would use to gain trust of the people around him.

"Well… why do you have your dark aura on? Your eyes turned just like they were when you fought Adam and Cinder."

"It's a subconscious thing. I… forgot to mention it back in the taxi. Now remove these ropes."

"You told me to not listen whatever you say."

"Forget what I said okay! Remove these ropes now!" The dark knight at this point had enough of what Ruby had to say.

"No." Ruby said.

"What?"

"I said no!"

"Get me out of this rope now Ruby!" Jaune started to force his way out of the ropes, but it was useless. The rope was tight and the handcuffs made him impossible to use his semblance or even his aura to break out.

"What… what is wrong with you?" Ruby asked silently, witnessing the person she love turn to a completely different person, a person she never thought Jaune could be.

"What's wrong with me? Nothing is wrong with me you naïve girl. This is the Jaune you always knew. Untie me now!"

"NO! That's not the Jaune I know! You're not Jaune!" Jaune stopped struggling and begun to laugh hysterically. His laugh was enough to scare Zwei, causing him to run behind Ruby to seek protection.

"You were always naïve Ruby and you still are too. You think you know what I am going through yet the truth is that you know absolutely nothing!"

"What… what are you saying? I know exactly what you are going through!"

"No you don't! You always had it easy growing up. You are just like Weiss! Everything you could ever want was handed to you on a silver platter! You had an Uncle who knew how to fight and taught you everything you needed to know. Your uncle knew Ozpin and that is how you managed to get to the academy at such a young age. I only had one person who taught me how to fight and that person was Pyrrha. Unlike you I lost people who I was close to, my father, Pyrrha, and Jay. I had to witness their deaths in front of me and this is what it turned me!"

"Well I lost…"

"Let me guess… your mother. Ha don't make me laugh Ruby. That's the only person you've ever lost in your life." Ruby couldn't handle the words coming out of Jaune. Listening to Jaune's darker half was changing the way she viewed Jaune as.

"Pathetic, I'm forced to look at a defenseless girl who hides from reality through hopes and dreams. It almost makes me feel bad for you Ruby."

"These dreams that I have are no different than yours Jaune. We both seek the same thing and you should know how we can make it a reality."

"A reality? Hahahahahaha! Look at me Ruby and what do you see?"

"I don't know what you are…"

"WHAT DO YOU SEE!? YOU ARE SEEING SOMEONE WHO FELL INTO DESPAIR BECAUSE OF A NAÏVE DREAM THAT CAN NEVER BE A REALITY! I have fought day in and day out in order to see even a glimmer of hope that I can achieve this thing called peace, yet it seems that whatever I do… I make things worse! Do you know what that does to someone Ruby? Do you?"

"Jaune I…"

"I'm going ask you one last time… let me out right now or when I get out… the first thing I'll do is make sure you watch as I kill every single person you've ever loved and then… and only then… will you know how I really feel." Ruby turned around and covered her ears, hoping that the words would be muted, but Jaune's voice grew louder. All Ruby could do now was sit behind the tree and not look at what could possibly be the real Jaune Arc.

"You know what… I take back what I said." Jaune said to Ruby who sat silently by a tree. Ruby looked towards him with a sad look on her face as if someone told her that someone close had just passed away.

"…"

"What's with the depressed look? I thought you loved me for who I am? Hahahahahaha!" After listening through an hour of threats and getting psychologically tortured by Jaune's words she had enough of it. She sped towards the dark knight with crescent rose drawn and had the blade in mere inches away from the boy's neck.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Jaune smiled at what was transpiring. By the looks of things, it seemed that he was amused by what he was seeing.

"Are you upset?"

"I've had it with your stupid remarks and your stupid threats!"

"So the first person you're going to kill is the person you love huh? At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if you become just like me."

"I'll never be like you! I'm going to be the very thing that is going to stop you!"

"Well then do it. Go ahead and kill me. That is what you are trying to do right?" Ruby took a moment to realize what she was doing and threw her weapon away.

"What… what am I doing?"

"You know what Ruby… I'm not going to kill anyone." Ruby looked at Jaune with a puzzled look on her face.

"Killing the people you love isn't as fun as watching you fall."

"Fall?"

"I want to watch as you slowly realize that your dream will never become reality."

"My dream will be a reality and yours will t…"

"YOUR DREAM IS GOING TO DIE AND THIS… THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO BECOME!" And just like that, Jaune's dark half fell unconscious. The black veins retracted and his dark aura settled down. A few seconds later, Jaune slowly opened his eyes and looked at Ruby with concern in his eyes.

"Ruby… what's wrong?"

"Jaune?" Ruby asked, tears streaming down her eyes.

"Why are you crying? Did something happen?" Ruby didn't answer and just jumped towards him with a relieved smile on her face.

"Tell me that it's really you Jaune!"

"It's me. What happened while I was asleep?" Ruby did not respond and continued to hug the knight tightly around her arms. The sight of the real Jaune Arc returning was a blessing for her. Hours watching Jaune's darker side was similar to a never ending nightmare, a nightmare that was a reality. After a minute, Ruby untied the knight and allowed him to stretch his muscles, but he immediately stopped when he noticed Zwei shaking anxiously. Jaune crouched and stretched his arm towards him, but Zwei growled and ran behind Ruby. Jaune slowly returned his arm to his side and sat back down on the ground.

"You both saw it right?"

"… yeah we did." Ruby sat next to the crestfallen knight.

"Jaune… I know that you aren't that thing. The Jaune I know keeps moving forward and wouldn't let anything stand in his way. The Jaune I know keeps fighting until his dream becomes a reality." Ruby's word touched Jaune, but Ruby felt as if though she didn't mean it. The darker half of Jaune seeped into Ruby's thoughts. The possibility of her becoming like Jaune frightened her and by making sure Jaune continued walking forward made it her feel that she wouldn't become something like that.

"Let's set up camp for the night. You're going to need your energy for tomorrow." Jaune said. The night passed and everything seemed as though it returned back to normal, but Ruby could not sleep throughout the night. That image of Jaune's darker self was engraved in her brain. That frightening image of him would not escape her mind. When morning came, Jaune noticed that Ruby wasn't being her normal self and decided it would be best to not bring it up. An hour passed and they packed up and continue moving forward to their destination.

"Hey… don't you think it's odd." Jaune said.

"Odd in what way?" Ruby asked.

"We haven't seen a single Grimm since we arrived here. I would have at least expected a few but this forest… it seems free of Grimm. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing."

"Let's just say that it is a good thing." Ruby said. They group continued moving forward as the hours passed and before they even knew it they were a few miles away from their destination. Zwei who was frightened before returned to his normal self and was no longer afraid of Jaune. He cheerfully played with Jaune and Ruby along the way and that helped them pass the time. They reached a path that had footprints on them. Jaune carefully inspected them and realized that these were human footsteps rather than an animal's paw prints. Jaune told Ruby to remain alert, just in case these people were hostile and before he could react, an unknown knight swung his sword at Jaune with great speed, causing Jaune to hit a tree that broke due to the force behind the attack.

"Jaune!" Ruby yelled. She saw 3 other sword and dagger wielding knights appear out of the woods and attack Jaune with the intent to kill. Although they noticed Ruby and Zwei, they paid no attention to them and only focused at the dark knight in front of them. Jaune quickly released his dark aura causing the 4 knights to get pushed back, which allowed Jaune to manifest his dark knight armor. He drew his sword and was ready to fight against the four sword wielding knights. The knights after witnessing what Jaune did slowly circled around him and were very cautious when doing so. Jaune yelled at Ruby to keep her distance and stay out of this fight, but stubborn as she is, she failed to listen to him and aided him. Two of the knight kept their focus on Jaune whereas the other two paid close attention to Ruby who drew crescent Rose. Zwei ran towards Jaune's side and stood in front of him as if to say that he was going to protect him at any cost. The two knights who stared at Jaune slowly stepped back, but Jaune used this moment to go on the offensive. He jumped towards them with dark Crocea Mors in his hand and swung viciously at the two. Sparks flew around as their swords as they made contact with each other at every second of the battle. Ruby was having no trouble with the two knights at her side, but she noticed that they weren't aggressive like the ones who were battling Jaune. Jaune pushed one of the knights back and the other performed a somersault attack forcing Jaune to block rather than to dodge. The impact was so great that his sword amassed a powerful attack once Jaune was able to attack again. Jaune swung his sword at the knight hitting him on the shoulder and that caused him to go soaring across the forest. The other knight turned to look at Jaune who wasn't affected by their attacks and slowly raised his blade and pointed it towards his foe. Jaune observed as the knight aggressively swung his sword and dagger at him. Jaune thrusted his sword at his foe, but was parried by the knight and managed to land a devastating blow towards Jaune. Jaune staggered and the knight performed a spinning ankle slash that caused Jaune to fall on his back and take massive damage. At this point Jaune's aura was depleting and had no choice, but to use his dark aura that he hoped to not use against his foes.

* * *

Ruby and Zwei

Ruby shot away at the knights that were focused on her, but they had no problem slashing at the rounds that were flying towards them. Ruby reverted crescent rose back to its original state and used her semblance to spike her speed and agility with every movement of her body. She was able to land several attacks on each knight in a few seconds. Neither one of them were able to land one of their own attacks on the swift and agile Rose, but after a while, they figured out the pattern at which she would hit them with an attack. Unlike Jaune, Ruby was repetitive with her attacks and can be easily anticipated. When she attacked once more with the same move, one of the knights parried her scythe and managed to grab hold of it. The other kicked Ruby towards a tree causing her to fall on her knees. Zwei noticed what was happening and head-butted one of the knights and caused him to fall on his back. Zwei growled at the other knight that held both of his weapons tightly on his hands, but the knight did not attack the growling dog and simply stepped back. Zwei noticed Ruby's weapon on the floor and quickly grabbed it with his mouth and wielded the scythe as if he has been training with it for a long time. Zwei did the same exact spinning ankle slash attack the dagger wielding knight did. Ruby wasn't surprised that her pup was able to do such things since she has seen it first-hand at what Zwei could do when he has a weapon held tightly in his mouth. However, Zwei's small body could only do so much. Crescent Rose was heavier than what he could carry so his movements were slower compared to what he can do with a fairly sized weapon. In a blink of an eye, all 4 of the forest knights were flung towards a tree and were unable to move. Jaune was using his polarity semblance to prevent the knights from doing more harm to his friends. Jaune proceeded to imbue Crocea Mors with a dark flame and intended to kill the knights, but was immediately stopped by Ruby who grabbed hold of his arm.

"What are you doing Ruby?"

"You don't have to kill them Jaune. They're already beaten."

"If I don't get rid of them permanently, they'll be back for us. It's better this way." Jaune stretched his arm back to finish it, but again was pulled by Ruby.

"I'm telling you it's not! Why do always think that killing is the best way to do things. You can still get the job done without having to harm someone!" Ruby yelled. Jaune looked at Ruby and looked back at the knights and lowered his sword.

"Why did you attack us?" Jaune asked. The knights gave no reply and remained quiet.

"They're not going to talk Ruby. Let me knock them unconscious then we can head towards Shadow woods."

"What business do you have in shadow woods?" One of the knights asked Jaune.

"Nothing that concerns the four of you."

"It concerns us greatly. Our job is to make sure that any sign of Dark presence is completely erased in Remnant."

"Wait… what. What do you know about the Darkness!" Jaune asked violently. Ruby had to calm him down to allow the knight to continue speaking.

"We cannot tell this information to the ones who are corrupted by the abyss."

"I am not corrupted. I have full control over this power." Jaune said.

"Jaune." Ruby said. Jaune ignored her knowing that she knows the truth.

"Yes you are. We can sense the Darkness consuming you. It will not take too long until you become like her."

"Like who?"

"Like Salem." Jaune looked at Ruby to check if she knew who this Salem person is.

"If you are a warrior who seeks peace, you will allow us to lock you away into the abyss in order to prevent you from harming more innocent people."

"You tried to kill us! Why should we believe you!?" Ruby yelled.

"Like he said. We took it upon ourselves to prevent any other person become a victim of this cursed power. If you follow us we will take you to the person who knows more about what we do." The other knight stated. Jaune and Ruby looked at each other and had no choice but to agree to it. They followed the four knights who were still cautious around Jaune back to their location which was in the same direction where they were heading.

"What do you know about this Darkness? Do you know how to stop it?" Ruby asked one of the knights who seemed a lot nicer than the others.

"We stop it by killing the person being controlled by it. The host manipulates other people to follow his or her command and the manipulated individual slowly gets exposed to his dark aura causing that individual to sooner or later become one like him. It is our job to make sure the spread of the Darkness is kept to at least minimum."

"How old is this darkness anyways? Are you four the only ones who know about this?"

"Information about the abyss was leaked and at this point we don't exactly who knows and who doesn't. As far as the darkness goes, it's been with us since the beginning. Humans were born from it and slowly moved away from it. The creatures of Grimm that you see nowadays are prime examples of the darkness.

"Well how many of you are there? I would think that there would be a lot of you to stop it from spreading."

"The Abyss watchers consists about 30 individuals. Each individual is tasked to notify the others about any signs of the darkness across Remnant. Most of us are spread around Remnant and only 7 remain here to prevent the mausoleum from opening."

"The mausoleum from opening? What's in there?"

"The abyss. That's where we keep Salem. To make sure she never escapes from there."

"And who exactly is the Salem? How did she get locked in there?"

"You'll have to ask our elder about that. He knows more about that than I do." After an hour of walking, they made it back to the small settlement. The Abyss watchers led the three to the elder of the settlement who held the knowledge that Jaune sought. The watchers who found the three explained the situation and the elder dismissed the four. Jaune, Ruby, and Zwei sat on comfortable chairs and were treated kindly. They were given tea by the caretakers of the cabin and were surprised to see that the settlement here looked as though they were living centuries back.

"So you are the one who has the darkness lurking inside you." The kind old man said. He appeared to be at the age of 80. Although he was very old, he seemed still capable of taking care of himself. The old man had a white goatee, blind from one eye, and had a visible scar across his face. Jaune looked around and was amazed by a weapon that was encased in a glass container.

"So I see that you have taken interest in that old Greatsword." The old man said.

"How old is it? I noticed that it looked very similar to the ones that the knights held."

"That Greatsword belonged to a knight who walked in the abyss. He was the first to take a stand against the Dark and was able to lock it away and was one of the very few who was able to control the Dark. With his companion wolf, they both were a force to be reckoned with, however even the mightiest of soldiers have a weak point."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"He was put in a position where he had to choose whether to save a kingdom, or save his loyal companion wolf."

"What did he choose?" Jaune asked, intrigued by the story.

"He chose his companion. My grandfather told me that the abyss walker had placed a barrier around his companion in order to protect him from the corruption that is the dark. He sacrificed himself to protect his closest friend he ever had." Jaune lowered his head and thought about what the knight had to go through in order to protect something. Is a single friend worth saving if it meant sacrificing himself and an entire kingdom?

"He is our master and we were inspired by him to continue his legacy. We are here to prevent such a tragedy to ever happen again. Although there was a few times that the abyss was seen in a few kingdoms centuries ago, we took liberty to stop it from spreading by burning down an entire kingdom."

"What!" Ruby yelled.

"Why!? Why would you burn an entire kingdom!? How many times has this been going on!?" Ruby demanded to know.

"Like I said before… since we established this faction there were only a few times where we were forced to destroy a kingdom, but that was a sacrifice worth taking if it meant saving the rest of Remnant. One of the many kingdoms that fell was under the rule of the Vanquishers."

"Jaune… isn't that." Ruby said.

"Your circle destroyed the Vanquisher's kingdom?"

"Yes we did. They were the fiercest family that nearly wiped out our whole circle. They're hand to hand combat prowess as well as their hidden talent to create weapons that could bypass a person's aura were something to be very weary of. Although we managed to destroy the kingdom, many of the family members fled the land in order to avoid capture. From information I have gathered over the years, the Vanquisher's are still strong and most of them became Hunters."

"You mean Huntsmen." Jaune stated.

"No… I meant Hunters, individuals that hunt huntsmen and huntresses."

"That can't be true." Jaune said.

"By your reaction… it seems you must have known a Vanquisher in some point of your life."

"Yes I have, but he passed away. What makes you think that they are what you call a Hunter?"

"Have you ever noticed how they fight? Their weapons of choice aren't something that they would use against a creature of Grimm, but a weapon that would be used against a person." Jaune remembers the weapons that Jay would use in every type of situation. He remembers now that Jay never really excelled like many other huntsmen in training when it came to fighting Grimm, but when Jay faced other huntsmen and huntresses, they never stood a chance against him. Could this old man be telling the truth? Is it possible that Jay had a shady job outside of school?

"In any case, what brings you here to our settlement?" The old man asked.

"I… I came here to find out if any of you can help me with a problem I have been having with the Dark."

"What kind of problem have you been having?"

"Well… when I fall asleep… I… I lose myself."

"Ahh… you're saying that the dark takes over you unconsciously."

"Y…Yes. Is there a way for you to help me?" Jaune asked, hoping that his answer would be yes.

"Over the years, I have seen my fair share of the Dark. The knights here who watch over it have yet to see someone corrupted by it, but I must say that there was never a solution that didn't involve killing the host." Jaune felt a huge a weight fall on top of him. The old man's words were equivalent to that of a person who was told that they only had a few days to live. He couldn't bear to see Ruby and his friends watch as he was slowly consumed by it and turn to something that they will ultimately fear and the thought of him of possibly spreading it to others was what frightened him the most.

"What's your name young man?"

"Jaune Arc sir."

"Oh… an Arc? Now I know why you haven't been fully consumed by it. I have but one solution for you Jaune Arc."

"Anything will do sir, please tell me."

"The Dark uses your doubts, your anger, and your emotions to fully overpower you. You must face your dark side in order to overcome it and the only way for that to work is for you to walk the same grounds as the Abyss walker once did.

"And that's where?" Jaune quickly asked.

"Into the Mausoleum… where Salem has been kept for centuries."

 **Here is another chapter everyone. I decided to add some Dark Souls things in here since it seems like Dark Souls suits RWBY pretty well I must say. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoyed the Dark Souls references in it. I will see you all later.**


	26. Chapter 26 - Dark Souls

**Chapter 26 – Dark Souls**

"That's not going to happen. What's to say that this Salem person won't harm Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Salem has been locked in there for many years. There is no telling what kind of person she may be now. However, placing this fellow into the abyss will benefit both him and the world." The old man said.

"It doesn't sound like it will help Jaune at all. It seems you just want to imprison him with whatever is inside. I am not going to let that happen."

"Ruby… wait." Jaune stayed where he was, not allowing Ruby to pull him outside.

"What's in the abyss?"

"Inside the Mausoleum lie 2 doors. The first door when you entered locks you in a single room that has another door for you to enter. The room is meant for any individual that is not overtaken by the dark to be safely stored. The person then has the choice whether to enter to the next door where all of the world's darkness is at… or to return to the world where he or she came."

"And how exactly will this help me with my problem?"

"Like I said before, the abyss will reveal your nature when you are conscious. You will be able to hear, see, and face what was causing others harm."

"…" Jaune clenched his fist tightly; afraid of what he will see when he enters inside.

"Don't be frightened young man. I can tell that you don't want to change who you are, but there are times that you must change for the greater good. Allowing these negative thoughts, these negative emotions overcome you is what is controlling you. If you can stop doubting yourself, stop questioning your actions, then and only then will you be able to regain control over your own body and mind."

"I hope you're right." Jaune said. Three other watchers led the knight to the Mausoleum where two others stood guarding over it. They signaled the two to lower their weapons to allow Jaune to enter inside. Surprised by what Jaune was about to do they stepped away from the door and watched as Jaune was about to enter inside.

"Jaune you don't have to do this." Ruby said, gripping her hands tightly around his arm, hoping that he will change his mind and leave this place together.

"I can't Ruby. By doing this, it will allow me to help humanity in some way. If I can't control myself, there's no point for me to be here in this world. I would rather lock myself away knowing that I will never hurt another person again." Jaune stood in front of the door and looked back once more at the others.

"We will be waiting for you right here young man. I know that you have the will power to fight it off and the person you care so much about will be safe here with us until you return." Jaune smiled at the old man and now had nothing to worry about during his disappearance. He pushed the doors open and slowly walked inside. He heard the doors behind him slowly close and his heart stopped when he heard them fully shut. The room where he stood was very familiar to Jaune. It was a somewhat old home with multiple rooms which had no doors.

"This place is… home." Jaune walked around the house where he once lived with his entire family. He noticed that it was night time and noticed a bright light at the living room. He walked down the stairs and looked at his entire family enjoying a warm meal together. His father, his mother, and the rest of his sisters were together and smiling. Jaune walked over to them and stood there in silence.

"Dad?" No one turned to see Jaune who was standing there with mixed emotions.

"Jaune! Your food is going to get cold! You better come down here or else you won't be able to get dessert!" Jaune's mom yelled. A little boy came running down the steps and ran right through Jaune who was still paralyzed. Jaune then looked at the little boy who sat down next to his father and ate his food.

"That's…" Jaune blinked and the room was now empty and uninhabited by his family. He placed his hand over his head and tried to comprehend what was going on. He looked towards the exit of the house and walked towards it. Upon reaching the other side he noticed where he was at now. He could hear the sound of music playing and a large group of students watching and laughing at someone who wore a white dress. He then realized that this was the day of the dance back at Beacon. He watched as he and his team danced together with laughter and smiles all around. Jaune felt relaxed and calm and didn't seem to realize that these were all memories. He walked back into the empty room just to see that it was now the infirmary of the school. He walked over to an open window to see the night sky which held a white shattered moon. Thousands of stars could be seen all around the sky and it was then he heard footsteps approaching him from behind.

"You should be asleep Ruby."

"I should, but it's hard to do that when someone close to you is in pain." Ruby walked towards the knight who continued to watch the sky. These were memories that Jaune was able to witness once again. These memories were very accurate and it wasn't until the conversation changed when he realized that none of this is real.

"These are all memories right?" Jaune asked. Ruby continued talking as if she didn't hear his question and continued responding the same way she during that night. Jaune looked over to where Ruby walked in and now noticed an iron door. This was the first door Jaune had seen during his trip on memory lane. He walked towards and inspected it. The door was very old and had engraving on it which was still visible to the naked eye. He slowly pulled the door open and a powerful gush of wind blew it open which pushed Jaune back. He looked inside the door and saw a dark red barren land which he had never seen in his life.

"This can't be another memory." Jaune walked inside the door and into the massive wasteland. The area was massive and many dark violet crystals can be seen connected to the ground. The winds of the vast area made it somewhat hard for Jaune to look around.

"When I think of Dark and Abyss, I expected it to be black… pitch black, but this place… this place is equally creepy. I need to be careful where I walk." Jaune noticed that his dark aura was radiating from his entire body. It seems that the place was drawing out the darkness inside of him without him feeling the full effects of it. Jaune crouched and observed the crystals that were near him.

"Jaune."

"What?" Jaune immediately turned around after hearing a woman's voice near his ear.

"Where is this voice coming from?" Jaune turned in front of him and noticed a woman a few feet away from him. He drew his sword and took his stance just in case she attacked.

"Who are you?"

"It's nice to finally meet you in person… Jaune Arc."

"How… how do you know my name?"

"Let's just say that I have been watching you for some time now and I must say that you really caught my interest."

 _"_ _She's been… watching me? Wait… that voice… that voice sounds very familiar, yet… I can't place my finger on it. I can't remember where I heard that very same voice before."_

"I will not ask again… who the hell are you?" Jaune noticed the black veins that were connected to her eyes. It looked very similar to his and can only think that whoever this woman is, she was just like him. Her hair was as white as Weiss's, but her eyes were covered in darkness and only her red glowing iris remained.

"I haven't done anything at all and you are already eager to kill me. It seems you really are a killer in the inside aren't you? Tell me, do you find pleasure in harming other people?"

"Wait... wha…" Salem walked closer to Jaune and placed her hand on his cheek. Jaune's body froze and he was unable to move. The black veins appeared on Jaune's face and his mind was removed of all thoughts. Every negative thought was gone, everything that he ever thought about that would stress him out was completely decreased to the point of him not remembering what he was stressing about. Jaune gazed into Salem's gleaming red eyes and didn't feel the need to kill, to fight, to struggle, or to feel concerned about the problems of the outside world.

"It seems that you have been through quite a lot Jaune. You can call me Salem."

"Salem…" Jaune said, still mesmerized by here soft hand absorbing every negative thought he had and it wasn't until a few seconds later did he figure out what Salem was doing. Jaune immediately jumped away from her and made sure he kept her distance.

"You… you were absorbing my aura weren't you."

"You arrived here to seek help didn't you? That was exactly what I was doing."

"How is absorbing my aura help in any way!?"

"You have been obtaining more aura than your body can hold and now it is overtaking you. I had that same problem and I found a way to fix it. You should be thanking me for saving your sanity."

"Wh… why should I believe you? For all I know you could have brainwashed me!"

"Brainwash you? You should be grateful. You turned out to be just like Cinder.

"You know Cinder."

"Well I don't see the harm in telling you this, but Cinder was one of my followers. However her thirst for power clouded her judgement and she became just like one of those dark wraiths that use to walk among the people on remnant.'

"So… you worked with Cinder!" Jaune pulled out his sword and swung it towards Salem who had no problem avoiding it and grabbed Jaune by the arm.

"Calm down Jaune. I'm trying to help you."

"You were working with Cinder. She is the reason why I turned out like this. She is the reason why Pyrrha is dead!"

"You've got it all wrong. I admit that Cinder and I have been working together, but our goals differed. The incident was her plan, not mine Jaune. You see, I'm just like you."

"Just like me?" Jaune understood that she had the dark aura like him, but there was something more to it than that.

"Like you I aimed to help humanity with this gift that was placed on me, however the ones I trusted, the ones that I would sacrifice myself for… betrayed me. You already know one of them and heard of the other."

"And who exactly are these two people? Why should this be any concern to me?" Salem smiled at Jaune.

"This should be a concern to you because the person who betrayed me was your headmaster from your school."

"…Ozpin?"

"I wanted to help humanity which would be considered inhumane, but I knew that was the only way. However, Ozpin became afraid of what I was becoming and decided it would be best for the world to lock me in here with the help with that absurd knight who calls himself the abyss walker."

"He… he locked you in here? If he did wouldn't he be stuck here as well? Wouldn't the abyss over power him since he doesn't have the dark with him?"

"The knight was the one who brought me inside. I don't know what happened to him. For some reason I was never able to see what his future turned out to be."

"What did you do that was the only way to save humanity?" Jaune asked, curious about what dire situation would force Ozpin to lock her in here.

"I rather not say… however, it's something that will be similar to you in the near future."

"What makes you think that? It's not like you can see the future or anything."

"You're right I can't see the future, but the road you are taking is no different than mine. It will lead to the same destination that I have reached and then you will realize why humanity is far from being saved."

Jaune looked around the vast area. Taking one good look of the possibility of where his choices could lead him one day. Could it be possible that he will end up here with her? Locked inside forever? Never to die? Never to be at peace?

"What you are seeing now was created by me. Before I was here, it was simply darkness, a giant void. However overtime I was able to make this place change. You could say that I am the god of this world."

"If you were to escape this place… where would you go? What would you do?" Jaune asked.

"What would I do? I would get back at Ozpin for locking me away in this dreadful place. I would get back at humanity for turning their backs on me."

"… I'm not you."

"What?" Salem asked.

"I said I'm nothing like you. Unlike you, I would never harm the peace that is left. If by causing mass murder is your way of getting revenge then it's something that is very different between you and me." It seems that whatever she told him, it was all true. She did not seem the type of person who would lie. However, Jaune knew he had to be wary of her. A trait like that is something that he doesn't come by these days.

"That is what I like about you Jaune. You never give up on what you believe in. Your determination is what got you through this world, but that will only get you so far." A gaping whole appeared beside Salem which Jaune responded with his sword drawn. A woman came right outside of it, wearing a white mask.

"One of your followers I take it."

"Salem, it seems that everyone is looking for him. The SRT is currently stationed at the school waiting for the boy's arrival." Raven said.

"I see. Then I guess we should send him on his way now."

"Wait… what's going on? Who is that woman and what school are you talking about?"

"You already know that you're wanted across Remnant correct? The people who want you are currently waiting to capture you at your school." Salem told the student with a sinister smile on her face.

 _"_ _Dammit. What am I going to do about that? If I just turn myself in there's no telling how long I am going to be held in a god forsaken prison cell. There is also no telling what kind of people I will find there that could pose a problem. I'm drawing a blank!"_

"Who's the woman?" Jaune asked.

"Pay no attention to her. She is just a messenger."

"How can she teleport in here? How's that possible?"

"You ask too many questions Jaune. It's better to keep you in the dark… for now." Raven removed her mask and looked at Jaune who seemed a bit shock when he looked at her. To Jaune, she looked very similar to Yang, but he didn't know that she was actually Yang's mother.

"Why do you continue staring? Do you like what you see?" Raven asked the blonde student.

"What!? No!? You just… you remind me of someone that's all." Jaune said, blushing at the question he was asked. Jaune walked over to a boulder and sat in front of it. He decided to rest again since he has yet to sleep.

"What are you doing?" Salem asked.

"I'm going to sleep. I haven't slept for quite a while and I am feeling really tired. If what you did to me helped, I shouldn't go on a killing spree during my sleep." Salem and Raven stared at the student who slowly drifted away.

"What do you think we should do with him?" Raven asked Salem.

"We're not doing anything. The people of Remnant will do it for us."

"How?"

"You'll see. He's going to leave here soon, but he will return here and when he does… he'll let me out of here and the destruction of Remnant will begin and he… he will help us do it."

* * *

 **Hours Later…**

After sleeping for a few hours, Jaune woke up and stretch his arms and legs. He noticed that Salem was sitting on a rock staring at the shattered moon in the sky. He walked over to her and decided to look at the moon with her.

"You know… I always admired the moon. Every night I would go outside and look at the sky just to gaze at the stars and the moon. It was something that kept me calm and motivated to continue to strive for something greater." Jaune couldn't stop himself from feeling sorry for her. She was all alone in the place other than the other masked woman who appeared earlier, but to be here away from civilization, away from friends and family must feel terrible for her.

"I would ask you to help me get out of here, but I already know the answer you would give me." Salem said.

"Thanks for helping me with my problem, but getting you out would put everyone's lives in jeopardy and I can't have that."

"That's understandable, but I know one day you'll come back here and maybe then I will never be alone." This emotion that Jaune could sense was overwhelming him. He knew he had to leave now before he decides to do something drastic that could cause a catastrophe in Remnant. He walked towards the door that remained closed and looked back once more at Salem who remained seated, watching at the bright moon in the sky.

"Thanks again for what you did. Know this, by helping… you're helping humanity."

"Helping humanity? The only person I'm helping is you. You'll come back here again and while you're facing the people who you hoped to save I'll be here… watching over you."

Jaune reached for the door's handle, but the doors automatically unlocked and opened, allowing Jaune to walk through it. Jaune entered inside and realized he was inside a crypt. The crypt was dark but had torches that lit the area. He looked around to figure out where exactly where he was. He had never been to a place like this nor did he ever remember seeing images, yet here he was in an unfamiliar place. He walked over to a room that held hundreds of caskets. The room was massive and Jaune couldn't believe such a room this big could exist, let alone have this many caskets. He walked over to each one that had names of people engraved in front of each of the caskets. Each casket had a weapon in front on top of them that Jaune looked at it carefully. Each weapon was unique to the other and each of them looked very different compared to the next one. Jaune reached a casket with a name that looked very familiar but spelled differently.

"Rubia?" Jaune wiped the dirt off the hid the last name of the person's casket. He was shocked to find out what the last name of the person was.

"Arc?" Jaune looked at the weapon on top of the casket and noticed that it looked very similar to Ruby's scythe, but the color was different. Jaune tried to open the casket, but he couldn't, it was way too heavy for him to push open and decided to check out the names of the caskets before this person and the ones after it. Surprisingly, each of the caskets was placed alphabetically and Jaune quickly walked towards the lane where his name fell in. He found one with his exact name and just like the others, it was closed shut. Jaune's sword Crocea Mors lay on top of it and unlike the current one he has, that one was old and worn. While Jaune was looking at the casket, a grey ghostly figure that appeared as a human slowly made itself visible from across the room.

"Hello?" Jaune said, no answer was heard from it, the figure continued on walking and looking as if it didn't realize Jaune was there. Two others appeared shortly after and the same thing had occurred, neither one noticed Jaune who was standing near them.

"What the hell is going on here?" Jaune noticed another grey figure that had a hooded cape similar to Ruby's running down the aisle and disappearing into the darkness. Jaune placed his hand on his forehead and tried to think of a possible explanation for this. He decided to head back to where he appeared and continued seeing these apparitions come and go which made Jaune a bit uneasy. Jaune continued looking around for a door that looked similar to the one he had opened when he entered this dream world, but instead he continued to find himself inside another room full of caskets, but this time it was a different letter of the alphabet. He turned back around and decided to look someplace else. He walked a set of stairs that led to more rooms that had no doors, but found something entirely different. It was a room that was actually a library, a library that had a fireplace in the center of it. Jaune entered inside and looked around a bit, pulling out a few books each with a person's name as the title. There were so many that it would take years for Jaune to look at every book it had. Jaune decided to take a seat on a comfy sofa that was placed by the fireplace. Jaune sat and looked at the grey figures walk past him and disappear into the library.

"How am I going to leave this place? Man, the old man could have at least given me an instruction manual on how to get out of here." After a few minutes of pondering, Jaune heard a loud bang from across the hallway in the library. He quickly got up and ran towards the sound where it came and found the doors which exited this dream world. Without hesitation Jaune pushed open the iron doors and finally made it out and entered the real world. The doors behind him shut and he was approached by two of the watchers who stood guard outside the entrance.

"I never thought I would say this… but I'm glad to see you guys again."

* * *

"So that's what she told you?" The old man asked Jaune.

"Yeah, and the way she said it… sounds like she is certain that I will come back."

"That sounds very problematic and this woman that appeared… how did she manage to get in without going through the front entrance?" One of the watchers asked.

"I… I don't know. A hole appeared in the air and out she came. It's almost like my semblance that I use to stop projectiles from getting towards me. Jaune activated his semblance to show them an example of how similar it looked.

"What do you think we should do?" The watcher asked the elder.

"Well if that is true then Salem would have already left if she wanted to, but something tells me she is bound to the place."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"You said that the woman somehow teleported inside yet Salem remained inside and did not bother leaving with the woman. Something tells me that something is causing her not to leave. It could be the mausoleum itself or it could be something entirely different. In any case we should worry about this woman who appeared inside with her. Do you have any clue how she looked like?"

"I have no idea, but I overhead them talking about my school in Vale. Apparently she has been watching the place for a while now and it is currently occupied by officers of the kingdom."

"Do you have any idea why?" Jaune hesitated to tell them, but if he wants to step forward to the right direction then by telling the truth they will surely understand his reasons for doing such things. He explained why he became a wanted man and why they were occupying the school and was relieved when they understood the reasons why he did such things.

"We understand why you would go to great lengths to prevent a disaster in the near future. Although the events in Mistral was a disaster, that doesn't mean you are at wrong here. Nothing could have been to prevent that under your circumstances at the time. All I can do is to send a few watchers to find this masked woman around your school and search for any person that matches the description you told us."

"I… I see. Then I can leave the masked woman to you guys. I need to clear my name first and the only person who could do that is Rhett." Jaune walked over to the room where Ruby stayed for the week. Apparently Jaune had been gone for a week since he entered inside the Mausoleum. He entered the room and realized that Ruby was asleep and he didn't want to wake up the tired girl and decided to stay here for the night so that she can get the rest she needed. He returned to living room and asked one of the watchers if he wanted to spar. Jaune wanted to see whether he still had control over his dark aura after the incident with Salem absorbing some aura. He agreed and told him to meet him in a structure that was across the house. Unlike the house he was in, the structure was the biggest in the area and actually had a bell on top of it. At first glance it looked like a church, but upon entering inside, it was actually a battle arena where the abyss watchers sparred. There you could see the many seats where people would sit down to enjoy each knight battle it out and to Jaune it seemed kind of similar to that of Beacon. As Jaune stretched and got ready, the bell above the structure rang and when a few minutes passed, every watcher in the vicinity entered inside to watch the two knights duke it out.

"So that bell is used to draw a crowd?"

"It has always been a tradition of ours to ring the bell when a battle was about commence." The Abyss watcher aimed his Greatsword towards Jaune and placed his hand that held the dagger over his opposite arm.

"What are you doing?" Jaune asked.

"It's a gesture we use to show politeness to our challenger no matter what they are before we engage in battle."

"Oh." Jaune did the same although he did look silly compared to the abyss watcher that just did it and once he did that battle between the two commenced.

* * *

"Are you ready to go Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Yup I'm ready. Let's get going." Jaune grabbed his stuff and headed towards the exit of the home. One of the watchers walked over to Jaune and gave him something wrapped in a cloth.

"Here's a present from us. We hope that it will aid you in your journey."

"Thanks… I appreciate the gift. I hope everything works out for the both of us." The watcher nodded and Jaune, Ruby and Zwei were now on their way back to Beacon where Jaune will face the people he helped.

"What do we do about Mistral?"

"The Dark was indeed stopped by the boy, but there is not telling what the after effects of it could have done. You know what all of you need to do about it. We can't allow something dangerous be born from it."

"I understand."

 **One Week Later…**

"Put your hands in the air!" Jaune placed his hands over his head and obeyed at the orders he was given. The officers placed him behind the cruiser and took him to the airport where he would return to Mistral and face the law of the kingdom. Ruby and her friends had to be stopped by Ozpin who made sure they did not do anything that would risk them getting imprisoned as well. After Jaune's departure, they immediately stormed to Ozpin's office, enraged that he did absolutely nothing to help him.

"Why don't you say something? Can't you go to Mistral and explain to them that he is innocent!?" Ruby yelled.

"Calm down Ms. Rose, I could, but the things he did here in Vale will be sufficient enough to get him imprisoned here. At the moment we need to see whether they have sufficient evidence to convict him. Of course none of you have any idea how the law works so I suggest you all return to your dorm room and allow me to fix this mess." Ozpin was different now compared to his usual self. He didn't remain in one spot and instead was walking back and forth without sipping into his signature mug. Ruby and the others did what he asked and returned to their dorm rooms where they remained for the rest of the day, whereas Ozpin left to the detention center where Emerald was being kept. When he arrived, he stumbled upon Yang who was waiting for his arrival.

"Ms. Xiao Long, what bring you here?"

"You already know professor Ozpin. While you remained at your office all this time doing who knows what, I have been trying to make Emerald tell me where Rhett has been hiding. With what has been going on, I wouldn't be surprised that you are here because of what happened to Jaune."

"It seems you catch on easily Ms. Xiao Long. In any case, we should hurry to Emerald and try to find out Rhett's whereabouts." The two headed towards the room where Emerald was being held for questioning and the two started their interrogation.

"I see you brought your headmaster to this conversation of ours." Emerald said.

"How about we get back to the part where you tell us where Rhett is hiding?"

"Like I said before I don't know where he hides. The last time we saw him was the day you and your friend were caught which by the way must be really depressing. How did you handle it? Surely you're not upset anymore right?" Yang clenched her fists at the response she was given.

"You aren't allowed to talk about Jay."  
"I'm not? Well I think I am entitled to talk about him since I was the one who knew him more than you ever did."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Yang asked, ready to punch Emerald across the face if she did not shut her mouth.

"I think it's best if you wait outside Ms. Xiao Long." Professor Ozpin said.

"No! She needs to hear this. You see, the reason why I knew him better is because I was the one who messed his head up pretty bad."

"Shut your mouth." Yang said, grinding her teeth.

"Oh are you upset? Don't tell me you actually had feeling for the guy?" Yang not holding back, punched Emerald across the face which left a very distinctive mark on her cheek.

"Ms. Xiao Long! Calm yourself! I think it's better if you wait outside and let me handle this!"

"No Ozpin! It's her fault that we're in this mess and she deserves everything that is coming to her!" Yang grabbed emerald by the hair and threatened her.

"If you don't tell me what I want to know, I will be sure that you will feel the same pain that I have been feeling all this time." Yang's eyes was surrounded by a bright yellow flame which Emerald already knew first glance that it was one of the Maiden's powers. Emerald could feel the back of her head starting to burn up which scared her.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you! Just let me go!" Yang let go of the girl's hair and listened to what she was about to say.

"He… he moves time to time depending on what's going on around him."

"What do you mean by that?" Ozpin asked.

"Take the problem at Mistral for example. Rhett enjoys watching people suffer and with what has been going on in Mistral as of late, he has been hanging around there more often than usual. If you want to find him, he has a small base of operation by the industrial part of Mistral. It's in a warehouse that is owned under a different person's name."

"And what name is that?" Yang asked.

* * *

"JAUNE JAUNE JAUNE JAUNE!" These word were continuously being repeated by the large crowd that were outside the airport holding up signs that read "We're with you knight!" and "The Dark Knight is Innocent!" The large crowd was something that Jaune did not expect. He couldn't believe his news of being captured and arriving into the airport would spread so quickly. The officers had to push the raging fans away in order to allow the other officers to take Jaune inside. The sounds of gunshots rang out and he could see the people who were angry at the officers scatter the area. Jaune saw a bystander next to one of the officer's shoulder fall to the ground which caused the officers around them to panic. Whoever took the shot made the officers duck for cover. The officers that were escorting Jaune hurried him to the airship that was waiting for him. Jaune could only look back at the officers who were looking for the direction of where the shot was taken. After a few minutes of hurrying, they made it to the airship and managed to take off. Jaune sat inside a cell within the airship and waited for them to drop him off in Mistral where he would be kept and wait for his trial. After an hour of flying, Jaune was visited by a woman who apparently had met Jaune once.

"No I don't recognize you. Should I?"

"Of course you should. I mean, you did take me hostage during the incident in Mistral." Jaune tried to remember, but couldn't.

"You know, when you tried escaping in that Medical facility." Jaune then remembered who she was and what he had done.

"Oh… now I remember. Listen I didn't mean to harm you. All I wanted was to leave unscathed and not get arrested for a crime I did not commit."

"Oh sure… a crime that you did not commit. However the video evidence proves otherwise."

"I'm telling you it's not my doing. It was the white fang that was behind that attacked."

"I'm not going to believe a criminal like you. Oh by the way I never had the time to repay for the humiliation you put me through."

"Humilia…" Shots rang and those shots were directed towards Jaune who luckily had his aura to protect him from getting serious injuries, but nonetheless it still hurt really badly.

"What the hell was that for?! Are you crazy!?" A couple of people came running down the stairs to find out what the shooting was.

"Hey! Are you crazy!? We aren't supposed to hurt him!" One of the guys said.

"Relax… it is payback. You can return to drinking your beer." They returned to the cockpit and she continued putting rounds to Jaune.

"I had to go back to training because of you and I became the laughing stock in the team. You know how bad that was? Well do you?" Another shot was placed on Jaune's leg.

"You can't do this!"

"Sure I can." Another shot rang out, this time it was directed towards Jaune's chest.

"As long as I make sure your aura doesn't diminish, I can continue shooting you without having any physical signs that can prove that I did anything to you." After a few minutes, she stopped and returned with the others and Jaune was left to rub the pain that was left by her.

"What a sick bastard." After another hour of flying, they finally made it to Mistral and unlike reaching this place in the first place, it looked terrible. From high above you could see the parts of Mistral that were abandoned due to the Grimm attack. Upon landing, Jaune was escorted out by the same woman who continuously shot at him. After making it out of the airport, this time Jaune was greeted by people who hated Jaune for what they thought he did. They believed that he was a reason for the tragedy here at Mistral. They berated him, cursed at him, and even throw stuff at him. All of this was something that Jaune expected to happen. With what the media had been putting out and what the people of Mistral were left to believe, Jaune didn't blame any of them for not knowing the truth. He was placed inside the armored vehicle and was immediately taken to the local jail where he would await his trail from there.

 **An Hour Later…**

"Admit it! You're the reason why the kingdom is going through this mess and you should take responsibility and accept the punishment that will be given to you!"

"I'm telling you I didn't do it."

"I'm going to tell you once more… admit i…" A tall swollen man entered the room where Jaune was being kept and interrupted the group of people who were interrogating Jaune.

"I am this boy's lawyer and you do not have the authority to question him. I want you all to clear the room right now!" Everyone in the room sighed and walked out.

"Umm… thanks for that. They wouldn't let me talk at all without having them interrupt me every second."

"Well that won't be an issue now. Well as I said before, I'm your appointed lawyer. I will help you get out of this mess by whatever means."

"Thanks, but I want you to know as my appointed lawyer that I really didn't do it."

"Don't worry young man I already know you didn't do it."

"Really?"

"Of course. You were only trying to help the kingdom by trying to stop Adam Taurus from letting go of the switch, but I doubt the people here at Mistral will think the same way.

"Oh… I… I guess you're right."

"But don't worry! I Burgundy will make sure you get out of this place as a free man!"

"Great! I really hope you can pull this off. I really want to help this kingdom out, but I can't do it behind bars." Burgundy sat in the other side and placed his briefcase on top of the table. He pulled out a bunch of information about Jaune, past missions, affiliations, and his team. Everything you wanted to know about Jaune, Burgundy had it in his disposal.

"Where did you get all of that?"

"Well, when you have been working as a lawyer for decades, you end up finding easier ways to get things without having to put so much effort in doing so."

"By illegal means?"

"No! Heavens no! I have plenty of good friends across the kingdoms that work close with the government and have authorization to get information for me. All of these are all legal of course."

"Oh… okay I guess." Half an hour passed and Burgundy was still looking through the information he had.

"Umm… Burgundy."

"Hmm…"

"Burgundy."

"Mmmm…"

"Burgundy!"

"Oh! Sorry I was absorbed in thought. I'm amazed that you've had gone through these entire dangerous mission at your age. I have never met someone who was as gifted as you are. Your parents must be proud.

"I'm pretty sure they aren't at the moment."

"Oh! Sorry about that. Now let's see here. It will be very difficult for the Prosecutor to convict you of terrorism."

"TERRORISM!?" Jaune yelled. Surprised at what they are accusing him of.

"Well you need to understand that this incident caused thousands of lives here at Mistral and this is something really serious that I feel will be punishable by…"

"Punishable by what Burgundy?"

"Well… by death."

 **Hey everyone! Sorry for the really late upload. I had finals week and I didn't really have time to make a chapter to upload. I wanted some time to relax and you know, not do anything that involved thinking. However, now that I'm done with testing, I can hopefully return to making chapters. If you haven't noticed already, I named this chapter dark souls because it has so many references of dark souls that if I didn't know any better, this could be a cross between dark souls and Rwby, but I am keeping the dark souls part to a minimum because this is more heavily on Rwby than dark souls. Anyways thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you continue reading future ones as well. Oh and one more thing... time is convoluted inside the Mausoleum.**

 **The next chapter will be called "Behind the Dark Mask" so look forward to that.**


	27. Chapter 27 - Behind the Dark Mask

**Chapter 27 – Behind the Black Mask**

"You have to be joking. Tell me you're joking." Jaune said.

"Unfortunately I'm not joking. The SRT witnesses claimed that you were at the incident and claim that you partook in the attack."

"I wanted to stop the black beam from shooting and the only way to do that was for me to…"

"To what Jaune?"

"The only thing that I did was stop the machine. Once I had done that the SRT found me and it looked as though I was the one behind it, but I did not do it."

"Hmmm…" Burgundy looked once more over the information once more in hopes he can find a way out for Jaune.

"While you weren't in custody, the local police department found a body by the mountain area where the kingdom's water supply is located. There they found a man's body identified as Adam Taurus. Do you know anything about that?"

"…" Jaune didn't know whether he should lie that or tell the truth of what happened.

"Jaune… if you want me to help you not get sentenced to death, you need to tell me everything you know. You might even be hiding the key to your freedom and you might not even know it." Burgundy placed his hand on the boy's shoulder to avoid distressing him even further.

"Well… if it's going to help me then I have no choice, but to tell you everything."

 **A Month Later…**

"Hiya Jaune. They haven't done anything to you in jail right?"

"You mean rub me the wrong way? No. The criminals in here are hardly a threat to me. Besides, I learned a few tricks from a couple of guys in here which I think could come in handy one day." Ruby, Ren, and Weiss visited Jaune at Mistral to see how he was doing. The people of Vale were upset when they learned that law enforcement officials had arrested their hero and transported him to Mistral to await his trial. Since the time he was arrested, many people who thought of Jaune as a hero began a movement to show their support for the black knight and protest against the law enforcement in Mistral and in Vale. It seems that Jaune's actions spread like wildfire and it only took a few weeks for this to spread to the rest of the kingdom.

"Do you know when the trial will begin?" Ren asked.

"One week from today. If all goes well, I will be a free man soon. Hey, how are things going in your side? Have you guys found Rhett yet?"

"Yang and Blake had reached the location where Rhett was last seen, but only found…a lot of dead bodies. It seems Rhett was definitely there, but had recently left." Ren said.

"What makes you think that?" Jaune asked.

"Apparently some of the bodies haven't even started decomposing yet."

"Damn. We need to find him before my trial begins. If you guys can find him before that time we could use him to our benefit. If we can get him to admit that he and Adam were the ones behind this that will guarantee my freedom."

"Don't worry Jaune. You can trust Yang and Blake to find him before that time."

"Thanks Weiss and by the way… what has Ozpin been doing?"

"We… we don't know. We haven't been able to talk to Ozpin since you were arrested."

"I see." One of the officers who were watching the four signaled them that their time was up and had to leave.

"We'll be back for you Jaune… we promise." Ruby said.

"Thanks Ruby." The visitors left the room and returned to Beacon where they awaited for Yang and Blake's return whereas Jaune returned to his cell to await Burgundy's return to discuss with him about his plan to guarantee his innocence.

* * *

 **The Endless Pursuit**

"Are you sure this is the place Yang? Where exactly did you get your info from?"

"From a reliable source Blake. Are you really doubting me even though we found plenty of evidence that Rhett is indeed somewhere around here?"

"Well when you put it like that." Yang walked over to Blake and wrapped her arm around her head pulling her close to her chest.

"Don't be such a buzzkill. Let's just find him and head back to Beacon. I'm sure everyone is worried sick."

"Fine." Yang let go of the Faunus's head and walked towards the abandoned warehouse that was in the outskirts of Mistral.

"Careful Yang, there are a few Grimm near the entrance." Blake said, placing her hand on the handle of her katana.

"It's just two Ursi. Nothing that you and I can't handle." Yang immediately ran towards the Grimm and quickly killed off both of them with a barrage of punches and dust propelled rounds from her gauntlets. The Ursi didn't even last more than a minute and Yang didn't even break a sweat.

"Show off."

"You're just jealous." Yang said, smirking at the Faunus. The two entered inside and looked around making sure there weren't anybody still left inside. From underneath an old desk a boarbatusk came rolling at great speed toward Yang, but was immediately sliced in half by Blake who had no trouble swiftly slicing it in two.

"I saw it coming." Yang told Blake.

"Yeah… sure." The two continued to look around inside and found what seems to be a video recording of some sort inside one of the desks. The two played the video and found something so terrible that they wished they had never watched it. It was a video recording of Rhett experimenting on a boy who was somewhere around the same age as Yang and Blake. Rhett had been torturing the poor boy. The date could be seen at the top right and had time skips. It seems that the boy had been tortured for weeks.

 _"_ _Subject 64 hasn't been showing any signs of increased aura or any signs of increased strength like subject 36 who released an unusual aura before he died seconds later. It seems that not every person will carry this dark aura around, however I think subject 53 was a breakthrough… but he managed to escape 2 days ago. Well… no matter, I still have others to work with so this is just a minor setback."_ ***End of Recording***

The video would explain the dead bodies that have unusual wounds.

"This isn't a man… it's a monster. How can someone do something like this to another human?" Blake said.

"This is why we need to catch him before someone else ends up in his hands. We have to keep looking for another lead. There has to be something around here that can tell us where he will go next." This was turning into a wild goose chase for Yang. It's been a while since she began her search for Rhett with only leftovers from what he has done to other people.

"I'm going to call Sun and ask him how things are going on his end." Blake said.

"Then I'll call Ozpin and tell him that Rhett isn't here." Blake quickly pulled out her phone and dialed Sun.

"Hey Blake, have you found Rhett yet?"

"No. He isn't here. How's everything in your end?"

"Well besides the whole "We will burn down the entire area if you don't release the black knight" protest, things are going peachy. The citizens in Mistral are starting to get more aggressive by the minute with the Vale citizens. You girls better hurry up or else they'll be another disaster here." Blake ended the call and looked back at Yang hoping that she has something useful they can use to help Jaune.

"Ozpin won't answer any of the calls! Why does he continue avoiding this massive problem!?" Yang exclaimed.

"It's weird that all of a sudden he avoids going to Beacon and won't talk to us. Something is going on and it can't be good."

"I really hope you're wrong… for our sake."

"I'm sorry Ozpin, but no matter how many times you ask us… we will not acknowledge that the boy's mission was a direct request from the Government of Mistral." One of the dark figures that were on the monitor in Ozpin's office said.

"I understand the consequences, but he is my student and he shouldn't be the one responsible for this. It should be me, the one who handed him the mission. He is my responsibility." Ozpin said.

"I'm sorry Ozpin, but our decision is final. We've already made this official. Vale was never involved with the boy's mission and he is fully responsible for the incident. In order to remove any tracks, you will be removed as the headmaster of Beacon later this year and you will be assigned a different position."

"As for the boy, we have also decided that we cannot allow another kingdom know about the secrets about the Dark. We've already have someone that will dispose of the boy." The group noticed the angered look Ozpin had on his face. Usually Ozpin would be calm and collected, but the situation everyone was in made him impossible to remain calm.  
"Forgive us Ozpin, but this is the only way to avoid a bigger tragedy." The video conference ended and Ozpin stood still, holding onto his mug. His arm trembled and out of frustration threw his coffee filled mug towards the elevator.

"Another mistake… that I will have to live with."

* * *

 **The Arc Trials**

"We're live at the Kingdom's court where the trial of Jaune Arc of Vale is underway. As you can see, citizens of Vale have arrived here to find out whether their "Hero" will be found innocent. We'll talk to one of these protestors to see where they stand. Excuse me, what do you think about the situation that is currently going on?"

"I'm here to support Jaune Arc for allowing me and my family to live without having to worry about a thug who wouldn't hesitate to kill person. Since he was arrested crime rates in Vale returned to its original state. He wouldn't cause this incident here in Mistral and if anything, I would think that he was probably trying to prevent it!"

"Interesting. Why are there so many people wearing these black masks just like you? Is there some sort of meaning behind it?"

"This black mask? When people see this mask they see someone who wants a better lifestyle for every person. They see someone who doesn't want to be praised for doing something that should be expected from other people. We will stay here until he is freed!"

"You heard it here everyone, they will remain here until Jaune Arc is released and is returned home. However, what will happen if he is found guilty? We will find out when they come to a verdict."

 **The Second Day…**

"You're honor. We already watched the video evidence of him at the crime scene as well as heard many eyewitnesses at the scene that he was the one who was at the incident during the time when the massive black beam was being released to the sky. It's obvious that he is the one behind the destruction of Mistral."

"His actions killed my son!" A person inside the room yelled.

"He is the reason why many people lost their homes!"

"He deserves death for what he has done to all of us!"

 _"You'll see the people you care about turn against you."_ Jaune kept remembering these words.

"Your honor, as you already know, Adam Taurus who was part of the White Fang terrorist group was found dead by the kingdom's water supply. You've already heard about what had happen between the two. Jaune Arc had a mission that was to stop Adam Taurus from detonating that black beam into the sky of Mistral."

"That's where you are wrong!" The prosecutor shouted.

"We already got confirmation that no such mission has never been assigned to Jaune Arc."

"WHAT!?" Jaune Arc stood up and slammed his hands on the desk.

"Where did you get that fake information from!?"

"This is straight from the Headmaster of Beacon. Are you saying that he is a liar?"

"No he's not but…" Jaune muttered.

 _"_ _Why would Ozpin lie about this? What could possibly make him lie about this?"_

"I have something to say." Burgundy said.

"I have proof that such a mission existed." Burgundy walked over to the Judge and gave him a file containing information that directly came from Vale's government towards Ozpin.

"This clearly shows that the mission was indeed given to Jaune Arc and his mission was to take Adam Taurus into custody." The Judge looked over the evidence and read every detail it had.

"Such a mission did exist then." The prosecutor, the judge, and even Jaune were surprised.

"That can't be right. The headmaster himself said that he never assigned a mission to Jaune that involved him coming here to Mistral."

"The mission wasn't assigned by the Headmaster of Beacon, but the Government of Vale." The Judge stated.

 _"_ _Wait a minute…the government of Vale? Ozpin never mentioned anything about it being a request from the government itself. This is bad! This is really bad! We're already in bad terms with Mistral. This would seriously cause even bigger tension between the kingdoms. Damn it! Why didn't Burgundy tell me about this before!?"_

"These files seems to be authentic, however this cannot be discussed with the public. Today will be cut short and we will schedule the next hearing a different date." The court was dismissed and Jaune could only think about the repercussions that will follow. Jaune returned to the jail he was originally kept and waited for Burgundy's return. He sat on a chair and looked at the television that was outside of his cell.

"It seems it ended abruptly, however we did get some information that the student Jaune Arc was on a mission here at Mistral at the time. We have not heard what exactly the mission was about, but we will bring you any information we can gather about the whole situation going on here." It seems that the media were already told about the stuff that had happened inside. Jaune sat down on his bed and waited for Burgundy's return which did not take long. An officer pulled Jaune out of the cell and led him towards a room where Burgundy was waiting. The officer left the room and the room was now quiet. Only the two were inside.

"This place is really empty as of late. Maybe it has to do with the people protesting to have you released." Burgundy said. Jaune slammed his hands on the desk irritated at what Burgundy had done.

"Why couldn't you tell me about this plan of yours earlier!?"

"What do you mean Mr. Arc?"

"I'm talking about getting files which I think is confidential by the way! Why didn't you tell me about getting that information!? Do you have any idea what you have done!?"

"W-well yes of course. By doing this it will guarantee that you will be found innocent."

"That's not it!"

"What do you mean? Why are you so upset?"

"You gave them information about my mission here at Mistral. If you had told me about this sooner I would have told you the consequences of releasing that information here!"

"What consequences are you talking about?"

"If they government finds out that it was a mission that was sent by the government of Vale, it would place the problem on the kingdom and if that happens, that would make Vale responsible for my failure! This means that not only will they put the blame on Vale, but they will also make the kingdom pay for the damages and maybe do something worse!

"I-I didn't kn…"

"This mission was confidential! I told you that no one in Mistral new my true intentions there! Mistral will not let this go by without some sort of compensation. I highly doubt that the government will even do that and there could be a huge possibility that Mistral will do something drastic."

"I'm sorry. I… I never thought about that. I only wanted to make sure that you wouldn't get imprisoned or killed." Jaune tried to calm himself down but it seemed impossible for him.

"It… it's not your fault. You only tried to help. It's my fault that all of this happened. Had I been stronger… had I focused all of my attention to Adam, I would have stopped this from happening."

"You can't blame yourself for this. You're only human and a human can only do so much. You can't carry everything on your back Mr. Arc. That's why you have friends that will help you carry some of it for you." Before Jaune could respond, the same officer entered the room.

"Time's up. Time to get back to the cell."

"I just started talking to him about his case. We still have plenty of time to…" Burgundy was cut off by the officer.

"Your time is up. Now you're going to follow me to your cell or else you'll have a bad time." Jaune had no choice but to listen to the officer, but before the man could take him out of the room, Jaune noticed a man's body lying on the floor with his uniform stripped from his bloody body. It was the same officer that took him to the room and it was the same officer taking him out. The officer noticed this and before he could pull out something from his utility belt, Jaune had kicked him away.

"Mr. Arc! What was that for!?" Burgundy yelled.

"That's not an officer!" Jaune quickly ran towards the fake officer and tackled him to the ground. Jaune was struggling to subdue the man, but with him having handcuffs that suppressed his aura and nullified his semblance made it complicated for him to retaliate. The officer kicked Jaune off of him and pulled out a knife.

"Who the hell are you?" Jaune asked.

"Someone you'll soon forget." The man rushed towards Jaune, lunging his knife towards Jaune to which he responded by wrapping the handcuff's chain around his hand to prevent him from slashing wildly.

"Burgundy!" Jaune yelled. Burgundy ran towards the two and jumped on the imposter in hopes to stop him from hurting Jaune. The imposter however managed to untangle himself out of Jaune's handcuffs and punch Jaune directly at his abdomen. Jaune was sent soaring towards the cell behind him.

Jaune quickly got back on his feet and positioned his arms in way that would make the imposter cut through the handcuffs in order for Jaune to regain his power and the plan worked. The imposter sliced through the chain and Jaune's semblance and aura returned to him.

"Jaune! Leave the place and find out where the files went!" Burgundy yelled.

"Wait… what?"

"I will stop that imposter here and try to use that time to escape and prevent the information from being revealed! I will take responsibility for what I caused, but I can't allow something like that to cause a bigger problem to everyone."

"If you do that then… then you'll become a criminal. They'll find out that you let me escape!"

"Do not worry about me. This will atone for all the mistakes I have ever done in life. Please on behalf of the people of Mistral, get those files!" Jaune didn't want to leave Burgundy alone with a guy that seems to have skills of that of a huntsman, but Jaune had no other choice. Jaune ran towards the closest window and broke through it whereas Burgundy got in the imposter's way and prevented him from chasing after Jaune.

"You are going to regret that fat man."

"Young man… you're going to be the one who is going to regret coming here." Burgundy placed his hand behind his back as if he was going to pull out a sword, but a sword was not seen when he arrived into the structure. Gusts of wind took shape of a greatsword that would surprise any person who were to witness this moment.

"What in the world is that?"

"This friend… this is your demise. I Burgundy of Mistral have a promise to keep and I am willing to take this promise all the way to my grave with you in it."

* * *

 **The Vanquisher's Returns**

"The files that were given to the Judge, where are they!?" Jaune asked a woman who was working at the time of Jaune's trial.

"Sorry sir, that information isn't for the public to… wait… you're…" Jaune grabbed the woman by her shirt and lifted her up.

"Tell me where the files are at now!"

"The files are kept in the archives just around the corner. It's under the first letter of your name!" Jaune rushed to the room where the files were kept and looked through all the files that were under the letter J.

"Hold it right there! Don't make any movement or we will shoot you!" Three officers rushed to Jaune after hearing all the yelling. They aimed their guns carefully towards Jaune to prevent anyone from being harmed.

"If you value your lives… I highly suggest you leave now." Jaune said, staring down the three officers.

"GET ON THE FLOOR NOW! WE WILL SHOOT!"

"I warned you." Jaune rushed towards the three officers that started shooting at his direction. Jaune redirected every round using his polarity and kicked the first officer he managed to get close to. Jaune swiftly turned next to him to disarm the next officer and kick him off his feet causing the officer to fall down. Jaune shot multiple rounds on the fallen officer and at the same time was redirecting the rounds heading towards him from the 3rd officer. Jaune grabbed the last officer's hand and pulled it towards him and punched the officer directly at his face and slammed him down on the ground.

"Now where was I?" Jaune continued to look through the files and finally found it. He quickly grabbed it and ran out the structure before law enforcement arrived.

"Now where the hell should I go?" Jaune ran towards a nearby alley and stopped to think what he was going to do next. Where could he go? He was a wanted man who was now being sought in two kingdoms and the other 2 kingdoms could possibly be after him as well. He couldn't return to Beacon, he couldn't remain here in Mistral. He can't go out in public without getting chased by the law. Jaune took a few minutes to think, but before he could come up with a solution, a sharp pain was felt in his back. Someone had snuck up on Jaune and stabbed him without giving off a sound. A hand was placed over Jaune's mouth to prevent him from yelling in pain. The stranger removed the knife from Jaune's back and turned Jaune around and proceeded to stab Jaune again, this time however, it was directly at his chest nearly hitting Jaune's heart. Blood poured out of Jaune's mouth and through the gaps of the stranger's hand. Jaune focused at the person's face that was somewhat blurry. It was a woman with lush brown hair. Jaune collapsed to the floor and could not move any parts of his body. The knife that remained lodged in his chest paralyzed his entire body.

 _"_ _Why couldn't I sense her? Why didn't my aura stop the knife?"_ Jaune started to lose his vision and pass out from the blood loss. The woman walked towards Jaune and was about to deliver the final blow, but from rooftop dropped a short girl that used her umbrella to land safely on to the woman to prevent her from killing Jaune. She kicked the woman away from the knight and pointed her umbrella towards the mysterious woman who attacked Jaune.

"Neo?" Jaune coughed more blood and needed medical attention quickly before he bleeds out. Another two individuals appeared behind Jaune, but Jaune could not tell who the other two were. It was too blurry for Jaune to make out who it was that was approaching him, but one of the individuals kneeled and removed the blade that was lodged in Jaune's chest.

"Are you sure that won't kill him kid?" That voice was too familiar to Jaune. It was none other than Torchwick.

"I'm sure. Jaune has plenty of aura to heal these kinds of wounds. It would take a lot more than a few stab wounds to take him out. It was the knife that was preventing him from healing himself."

 _"_ _That voice… why is that voice very familiar."_

"Neo, would you be so kind and take out that bothersome woman?" Torchwick said. Neo smiled and was more than happy to do that for him. Jay stood up and walked over next to Neo who had a puzzled look on her face.

"You're not 100% yet kid. I think it would benefit us all if you stay out of this."

"I may not be my old self, but the person we are facing isn't your ordinary Huntress. It's going to take the two of us to stop her. Torchwick it would be best if you take Jaune with you and leave her to Neo and me."

"Jay… you have been missing for more than a year now and we have a lot of questions we want to ask you. However, I have a job to do and you are currently in the way."

"So… you were hired to assassinate Jaune? Who contracted you to kill him?"

"I'm under no obligations to answer your foolish question. If you don't move out the way, I'll be forced to kill you. You know that."

"Well then… it looks like you'll have to try to kill me." Jay and Neo readied their choice of weapons. Unlike Neo who only needed her umbrella, Jay had an arsenal of weapons. Jay carried two sawed off shotguns, smoke grenades, and his dual colt m1911a1.

"A fellow Vanquisher that is relying too heavily on weapons? It's insulting having to look at you."

"Neo… her semblance causes our semblance to be rendered useless, but the flaw in her semblance is that she can only use it when she is directly looking at you. Remember that."

"Jay… how are you…"

"I'll answer all of your questions later. Right now we have to find out who sent her to come kill you." Neo started her attack and rushed towards the brunette with her umbrella in her hand. The brunette swung her fist towards the short Neapolitan girl, but completely missed. Neo had used her handle to redirect the punch causing the brunette to fall forward. Neo smiled at the woman, obviously mocking her for her failed attempt. The brunette rushed towards Neo again, this time however she did not underestimate Neo's fighting ability. She swung her fists left and right only to get the redirected elsewhere, but when Neo tried doing the same trick again the brunette grabbed the handle of the umbrella and pulled it in order to get the mute girl close to land the powerful hit, but before the punch could land Jay had shot multiple rounds towards the brunette landing a few hits on her. She stepped away from the two to figure out a way to get close to one of them without having the other to come and aid. She used her aura to speed up not only her movement, but her strength as well. She rushed towards Jay who knew what she would do next and managed to grab hold of her fist before it could strike him right at his face.

"I see you're not as strong as you were." The brunette whispered to him. With all her strength she managed to push through and land the hit and send Jay sliding away from Neo. Neo caught off guard barely managed to avoid several swings of the skilled fighter. Although she was avoiding each swing she did not find a perfect time to strike back. Neo flipped away from the cqc expert and listened to Jay who had a plan.

"Listen Neo… I have a plan."

"Plan all you want because no matter how you execute it, it's going to be pointless."

"Got it Neo?" Jay asked. Neo had a huge grin on her face which made the brunette slightly uncomfortable. Neo and Jay rushed towards the brunette at the same and kicked and punched simultaneously several times, but were stopped by the Vanquisher with ease. With her left arm, the Vanquisher pushed Neo's leg away and with her right hand that held Jay's fist pulled him towards her and grabbed him by the neck. She picked him up and slammed him to the ground making the floor vibrate and crumble. Neo rushed towards the brunette in a flipping motion and jumped over the woman and swung her umbrella towards her. The woman ducked at the attack and kicked Neo on the chin sending her flying away. Jay got up and aura jumped towards the brunette with his fist in front of him. She stepped to the side and grabbed Jay by the arm and swung him towards Neo. Neo rolled away from Jay and flipped towards the woman to make it difficult to predict how Neo intends to attack her. The woman aimed her fist to the side, but Neo avoided the attack and managed to get on top of the woman and grab her by the hair and bring her down to the ground. Neo swung her umbrella towards the woman, but again the woman anticipated this and grabbed the handle and pulled Neo towards intending to use all her strength to break Neo's face.

"Let's see you smile after this!" Neo's smile turned to a grin which caught the woman's eye.

 _"_ _What's with that grin?"_ The woman wondered. When Neo moved her head she then noticed Jay coming behind Neo with his two sawed off shotgun aimed at her.

 _"_ _Idiot, the shot will scatter and hit us both. He wouldn't shoot the both of us."_ When the brunette looked back at Neo she was already gone. Neo had teleported away when she took her eyes off of her and looked at Jay who was rushing towards the two.

 _"_ _I'll just move to the…"_ That's when she noticed that Neo was behind her with a blade drawn out of her umbrella and aiming it towards her. There was no way to avoid any of the attacks.

 _"_ _Shit!"_ Jay's reflection could be seen through the woman's caramel eyes and the bright light of the shotgun's barrel shined in front of her. In a brief moment, the blast had sent her soaring towards Neo's blade which penetrated through the remaining aura the woman had. She was now unable to continue fighting. The blade was embedded inside the woman's lower back. Neo's grin remained on her face as she pulled the blade out of the woman and wiped the blood using the girl's clothing.

"Now you're going to tell us who hired you Cara." Before she could answer, officers surrounded the alley and had the three cornered.

"Cops. Neo." Neo smiled and used her semblance to teleport the three out of the alley and to safety.

"What the hell!? They disappeared?"

"Everyone lock this entire area down. I don't want anyone leaving from a 5 block radius!"

* * *

 **Foreshadowing**

"Officers say at least two bodies were found inside and Jaune Arc who was in custody, escaped and currently on the loose."

"What… where am I?" Jaune woke up from an old green sofa that looked somewhat worn out. He looked across from him and noticed Neo watching the news and drinking from a glass cup. Jaune attempted to get up, but still felt in pain from the stab wounds he had gotten from Cara. Although the pain he was feeling would have kept any other from getting up, he pushed through it and managed to get on his two feet. Neo noticed the sounds of footsteps and turned to see Jaune slowly limping his way towards her. She smiled at the knight and got up from her seat and lent him her umbrella to use as a cane.

"Thanks Neo. Do you know where Jay and Torchwick are at?" Neo pointed down and Jaune was confused. She noticed this and stomped her foot several times.

"What do you want Neo?" Torchwick said, underneath the floor.

"Oh ok. Thanks." Jaune looked around for the set of stairs that led down, but could not find it. Neo grabbed Jaune by the arm and decided to lead him to Torchwick rather than have him stumble around and get himself lost. As they walk down the steps, Neo decided to mimic Jaune and act as a crippled man using a cane down the stairs. Neo smiled and laughed and Jaune could only ignore what she was doing.

"Ha ha… that's really funny. I didn't know Torchwick hired a mime as his bodyguard." Neo laughed at the response and wiped of the tear she had next to her eye. After an excruciating time walking down the steps, Jaune was able to meet Jay who was sitting down with his earphones on. Jaune walked towards Jay and ripped out the earphones out of his ear.

"Dammit Neo I was listening to…" Jay turned and noticed it was Jaune who had pulled the earphones.

"Oh… Jaune. How are you feeling?"

"How am I feeling? That's not important right now. How in the hell are you still alive?" Neo noticed where this was going and teleported away from the two.

"It's a long story and isn't important right now."

"Not important? Jay we saw you die in that explosion. Everyone was devastated especially Yang who by the way is currently spending most of her time catching Rhett."

"I know…"

"You know? Are you saying that you nev…" Jaune was interrupted by Neo who teleported back to them with a bucket of Neapolitan ice cream. The two looked at the girl who gestured them to carry on with their conversation.

"You know what we have been going through and you never decided to tell us that you were still alive? Why?"

"There has been someone who has been watching everyone at Beacon for months now. If I had revealed myself to any of you… she would also notice me."

"Who has been watching us?"

"A woman. She carries a mask similar to the followers of the White Fang and for some reason never tries to harm any of you. Neo says that she had seen her once during the train incident. She saved Yang before Neo could kill her which by the way…" Jay looked towards Neo who had a spoon in her mouth.

"I had recently learned." Neo rolled her eyes and continued scooping away at the ice cream bucket.

"Wait… I think I know who you are talking about. I've seen her face before. She looked like Yang when I first saw her."

"Where did you see her."

"I… I had left to a forest to find help."

"Help? What kind of help?"

"Well… my dark aura had been acting up since the incident in Mistral. I had apparently consumed too much dark aura and it was overpowering me."

"Well how did you fix it?"

"I met a group of people who had known about the dark for centuries. They had some sort of Mausoleum that led me to what they called the abyss. It was a different world or dimension that was entirely different from ours. I met a woman in there who had the same powers and she healed me."

"Healed you? How could you allow someone like that to heal you? You don't know her and she doesn't know you. What's to say she didn't do something to you?"

"That's the thing. She said that she has been watching me. I don't know when, but it's almost like she has been expecting me."

"So that masked woman is working with her? I don't know Jaune, but this sounds very dangerous. Why didn't you take her out when you had the chance?"

"It's not that wanted to… I couldn't. I could sense how much aura she possessed and it was something that I alone couldn't handle."

"Well did she say anything?"

"Well, she said that…"

"What did she say Jaune?"

"She said that I would return one day. I don't know what she meant by that, but that isn't going to happen I assure you." Jay took a moment to think of all the possibilities that could be going on with the masked woman.

"We'll figure that out later. There's some information that I need to get first." Jay walked away from Jaune and headed towards a door that was across the bedroom.

"Wait! You haven't told me how you made it out alive!" Jaune felt a sharp pain from the wound where he was stabbed.

"You're aura is still healing your wounds. The knife that Cara used is a special knife that can puncture through a person's aura. Unlike other knives, once it pierces through your skin it makes it difficult for your aura to heal it. You'll be fully recovered in a few days." Jay entered the room and Jaune was all alone with Neo.

"Well I guess I have no choice, but to stay here for a while. Hey Neo, when did Jay make contact with you and Torchwick?" Neo took a second to remember and kept 2 fingers up.

"Two months ago?" Neo nodded in agreement and continued eating her tub of ice cream.

"Did he ever tell you anything about why he went missing?" Neo shook her head. She pulled out her scroll and decided to make things simpler for Jaune. She typed out what had happened when Jay had returned after being missing for more than half a year.

"When he returned, he hardly talked. He didn't want to talk about what had happened to him and told us that he didn't want your team to know where he was. He said that if we did mutter a single word he would kill us in an instant. Of course I laughed at his comment because he wouldn't be able to do squat in the state he was in."

"In the state he was in? What do you mean? Was something wrong with him?" Neo started typing again in the scroll and showed her response to Jaune.

"You noticed how his body seems skinnier and less packed with muscle?"

"Yeah I kind of noticed that. He did seem to have lost quite of bit of strength which is weird. Jay isn't the type of person who would stop training for long periods of time."

"Well when he found us he was much worse than that. It seemed as though he had been starving himself for a long time. I tried to ask him why he was like that, but every time I brought it up he would just get angry and storm out."

"Much worse? What the hell happened all those months ago?"

As the day turned to night everyone went to their rooms to sleep. Jay and Jaune on the other hand were still wide awake and were outside in the cold air discussing the few things Jay had learned from Cara after Torchwick had interrogated her.

"You don't have to kill her you know? Isn't she like a family member or something? She is a Vanquisher like you."

"A Vanquisher like me. That name isn't something to be proud of having."

"Why is that?"

"That line of family has turned into something that would make my ancestors sick to their stomach." Jay lied down on the floor and let out a huge yawn.

"I wonder how my life would be like had I never received this power. Maybe I would have been in school right now sleeping like a baby or maybe I would visit my home and get a nice warm home cooked meal."

"So you're homesick?"

"Some old memories had been stuck in my head and I always thought of returning home one day."

"Jaune… you do know you can never return to that normal life you once had right? No matter what you do that normal life of going to school, being with your friends and family, and not worrying about being chased will never return to you." Jaune let out a huge sigh and looked at the cloudy sky.

"Even so, there could be a day when I can settle down and not have to worry about fighting anyone anymore and to be honest, that's something that I can look forward to."

"Maybe, but the possibility of that happen is close to zero."

"So it was Vale's government that had given that mission to Ozpin to give to me. Why am I not surprised?"

"By denying that they were the ones who sent you to Mistral they saved the kingdom from having to pay or become responsible for most of the destruction of Mistral."

"Yeah, but there's something that I still don't understand. Why would they send someone to assassinate me? What would that accomplish?"

"If I had to guess, it would be to prevent the kingdom from using your dark aura. This is something that the other kingdoms still haven't found out about yet. Let alone be able to use it."

"Even so, I still can't deny that it hurts having your own kingdom send someone to kill you. Even after what I went through to assure that something dangerous would not rise. I mean, I stopped Cinder and I killed Adam. You would think they would be grateful for these things, but all I managed to get out of it is my close friends getting hurt and nearly killed. I had to fight Pyrrha again because of that… that monster. The more I think about it, the more it gets me angry." Jaune clenched his fist and his dark aura slowly released from his body.

"Well what do you plan to do?"

"I… I don't know." Jaune looked at his reflection through the window of the house.

"When I look at a mirror, I see someone who has been through places that many people have never been in. I have doubted myself time after time and never relied on anyone but myself. Although I killed the people who were a threat, it seems that it did absolutely nothing to preserve some peace in the world. The more time passes, the more trouble I go through, it seems more clear to me that… I'm the real threat."

"Don't be ridiculous." Jaune looked back at Jay who was lying on his back.

"The stronger a person gets, the more threatening they look to everyone else... even himself. That's what changes the person in power. Whether they use it for good or evil is up to the person to decide how he or she wants to use it for. You can use it to help others or help yourself, but in the end you'll just end up hurting yourself or everyone else."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If you choose to serve the people, you are pretty much acting as a slave that provides their needs. That will end up killing you slowly from the inside and no matter how much you believe that you are doing good, you can't guarantee that they will do the same. But you Jaune, you have the ability to speak to others and influence them by the sound of your voice. You are a true leader, one who has seen how bloody this world can truly be. You want what's best for everyone else and many people can already see it. The people of Vale followed you all the way to Mistral in hopes that their actions could free you."

"You really think that I could be someone that everyone could look up to?"

"Well it's hard to say now, but the only other person who is capable of doing that would be Ruby, but she sees things much differently than you. She needs to learn that you can't simply believe that things can be fixed by simply talking. Action is required even if it means having to kill someone for the greater good. That is what we Vanquisher's tend to believe in."

"Ruby huh?"

"Anyways, let's get back inside. Tomorrow is a brand new day with the same old problems." The two returned inside and headed to their rooms. Jaune lied down on his bed and continued thinking about what Jay had said about him or Ruby being able to lead the people, unite all the kingdoms.

"That would never happen. After everything that has happened, I'm not fit to be someone that everyone can look up to or even lead."

* * *

 **Appreciation**

As the morning approached, Jaune felt the need to do something in return for the others who saved him from potential death. He decided to make breakfast for them as a sign of appreciation. He entered the kitchen and noticed that Neo had already been awake and was about to make breakfast herself. He noticed that she was having a hard time trying to get the box of cereal from the kitchen shelf. Jaune walked over to her and grabbed the box and handed it to her. She crossed her arms in defeat and looked the other way, obviously upset that he grabbed it for her.

"Oh come on. You and I both know you would have never gotten it unless you had hopped on the counter." Neo still didn't turn herself around and allowed him to hand her the box.

"Well if you aren't going to use this I'll just go ahead and place it back." Jaune went ahead and grabbed a few pans for him to use and walked towards the oven. Neo not noticing this continued her struggle to grab the box without jumping on the kitchen counter.

"Now what should I make? I guess I should just do eggs and bacon." Jaune grabbed some eggs and some bacon in the fridge and started making breakfast. Neo turned to see what Jaune was making and was surprised that he was actually making food for everyone in the home. She stopped her pursuit for the cereal box and approached him. She looked amazed at what Jaune was making and he took notice of this.

"Something tells me you or Torchwick have never tried making food." Neo shook her head and continued to look at him as he continued making food.

"Well this isn't everything I can make. My older sisters enjoyed cooking and taught me how to do it as well. To be honest, this is child's play compared to what I had to make when my sisters weren't home." Neo became even more amazed knowing that he can cook other things as well. She drooled at the smell and sight of the food nearly being done and she couldn't wait to eat.

"While I start serving the food, you should go wake Torchwick and Jay up. I'm sure they're going to want to eat." Neo nodded her head and teleported to Torchwick's room where she found him still sleeping soundly on his bed. He shook the man violently, but wasn't fazed by it.

"5 more minutes Neo. Running an illegal business takes a lot of energy out of you." Neo became upset and teleported to the kitchen again and grabbed a bucket that was lying on the floor. She placed it on the sink and started pouring water into it. Jaune looked and already knew Neo was up to no good.

"I'm glad I'm not the one who is still asleep." Neo teleported back to Torchwick's room and threw the bucket filled with water onto Torchwick to which he screamed and looked at the person who did it.

"NEO!" She teleported away outside of Jay's room and entered inside. To her surprise, Jay was already awake and putting on his shirt. Before he could put his shirt on, she noticed a weird mark on his back right below his shoulder.

"You should really learn how to knock Neo." Jay said. She rolled her eyes and signaled him that food was ready by moving her hand as if she was eating something. He quickly understood what she was trying to say and simply told her that he will be there in a minute. She smiled and rushed back to Jaune to see if everything was prepared. She made it to the table and sat on her seat where she was about to start eating, but was quickly stopped by Jaune.

"Wait for the others." Neo put on a depressed look which Jaune did not fall for.

"That's not going to work on me Neo. Ruby has tried that various times and not once did I fall for it." She placed her elbow on to the table and rested her head on it as she waited for Torchwick and Jay.

"What's that wonderful smell? Kid, don't tell me you made this for all of us."

"Well, you guys did save me and the only way to repay you at the moment was to make all of you breakfast."

"Just so you know kid, a ruthless criminal like myself doesn't need someone else to make food for them."

"Yeah… whatever. Just sit down."

"Hm. You actually made food for them Jaune?" Jay asked as he approached to the table.

"Hey! We deserve it. Our services doesn't come cheap you know?"

"Yeah I'm sure it doesn't." Jay took his seat and everyone was now seated to eat. Neo quickly started serving herself the delicious warm food that she had been waiting for. When everyone else was already eating, Jaune took the time to place his hands together and pray before he ate. Jay took notice this and decided to do the same.

"You're actually praying? Listen kid ***munch* *munch*** in all my time of being a criminal, there is no such thing as a higher being."

"Well you might think that, but I do believe there is someone who is watching over us whether we see it or not." Jaune said. Jay looked at Jaune and looked at Jaune and lowered his head. He released his hands and placed one of them on his fork.

"Well something tells me that God wants us to enjoy this breakfast that Jaune made. Thanks for the food."

"Don't mention it Jay." The four enjoyed the eggs and bacon that was more delicious than what they served in most restaurants around them. Jay turned on the T.V and turned it to the news.

"The search is still underway here at Mistral, where Jaune Arc of Vale had escaped. Officials say that there are two confirmed deaths at the jail where Jaune Arc was being held. Authorities have still not released the names of the two victims, but we will be sure to tell you when they become available to the public."

"I really hope Burgundy wasn't one of them."

* * *

 **The Plan**

"It's been nearly a year since Jaune had escaped and we haven't heard anything from him. Do you think something bad happened to him?" Weiss asked Blake.

"I don't think so. We all know that Jaune can take care of himself. The only thing we can do is hope that he returns one day. I can't see the reason why he wouldn't return." Blake responded. Ruby was lying on her bed worried about what could have happened to Jaune. The same thought ran through her head and it was the words that Jaune had told her when he didn't have control over his body and mind. The words he said about working so hard to achieve his goal and yet whatever he does it seems that it doesn't help one bit. With the things that have been going on with Jaune, she couldn't stop herself from thinking that what he said was true.

"Ruby!" Weiss yelled.

"What what's going on?"

"I kept saying your name three times now. What's on your mind?"

"Nothing. I'm sure Jaune is fine and is probably having fun somewhere."

"Anyways, where's your sister? It's already late and we have a big day tomorrow. We picked up a mission outside of Vale and it's going to be a long trip till we get there."

"She said that she was going outside for some air. She will be back soon."

"Well she better be in good shape because renting a 4 room apartment doesn't come cheap."

Yang walked into the forest where someone was waiting for her by a tree. She looked behind her making sure no one had followed her here.

"Do you have any good news mom?"

"I still haven't found you're friend's location, but I must warn you, he is someone to be careful with. Something tells me that he isn't the same person you met when you arrived to Beacon."

"You keep telling me that mom, but I'm sure he is still the same goofy guy. I mean, sure he lost his teammate and has gone through a lot, but I'm sure he wouldn't turn on his friends. Right?"

" When you last saw him, he was a completely different person correct? You two were in bad terms last time you told me."

"Well, it's complicated. I was still not over Jay, but I'm fine now." Raven walked over to Yang and wrapped her arms around her.

"Tough just like your mother." Yang laughed at her mother's comment.

"Thanks mom."

"Well I better get going now. I have some things to do elsewhere and it can't wait. Take care of yourself and your sister."

"I will mom. Don't worry about it." Raven slashed through the air and created a red portal to teleport out of the vicinity.

"And Yang,"

"Yeah?"

"If I were you… I would forget about both of them. Your friends can't come to terms that he will not return, but if he does… it won't be good." Raven entered the portal and disappeared.

"Easier said than done."

For about a year Jaune made no communication with anyone he knew. Ren, Nora, Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Yang had already graduated from Beacon and were already accepting various missions of different types. Killing Grimm infested areas around the kingdom, capturing criminals that were on the loose, and working their own solo missions from time to time. Ren and Nora although teaming up with people stayed connected with Team RWBY. They lived from the opposite side of the kingdom where it was always warm and sunny. As time digressed, they slowly stopped talking to one another. Ozpin retired from teaching at Beacon and lived in a cabin located inside the grand forest of Vale. Although relaxing it may sound, he still maintained communication with the government and school. There was an incident where the one of the government officials was murdered and they claimed it to be the doing of a well-known criminal that everyone in Remnant knew. It was Jaune Arc who was blamed for the murder. However Ruby and the others did not believe for a second that he had done it. That was a month ago and although Jaune was blamed, Mistral had not forgotten the things he had done to them and continued to think that Vale had something to do with his escape and the destruction of Mistral. The civilians of both sides could clearly see the problems arising from the two and war seemed likely to happen soon if something isn't done that would clear Vale from suspicion. Jaune knew there was only one way to clear Vale from suspicion and he would have to do it as soon as possible. His life was already ruined the moment he had unlocked his dark aura.

 ***Knock* *Knock*** Ozpin opened the door and was immediately shocked to see who was in his doorstep.

"Jaune?"

"We need to talk Ozpin." The two sat down and discussed what Jaune had done this past year and what he planned to do in order to remove Vale from all suspicion regarding the attack and his escape.

"I can't guarantee that this will be enough to clear the government's suspicion, but it's the only thing that is left to do. I didn't want it to come to this, but all the mistakes that I have done, the lives I have taken led to this. You and I already know that the future that lies before me is a place that no one should have. What I'm going to do is go to Beacon and… begin the massacre."

"Are you insane!? I can't allow you to do that! You're talking about killing innocent students who have a bright future ahead of them!"

"Would you rather have them be involved in a war where all they will see are their friends dying before their eyes? There's no other way to prevent this and if there was… I would have done it already. I already killed one of the government officials that assigned you the mission. If I were to kill the others this kingdom would destabilize and I don't want to think about what Mistral would do. This is the only way Ozpin."

"I already told you that I will not let that happen. You can forget about doing that because I'm not going to allow it to happen." Jaune walked towards the window and looked outside where the sun shined through the trees.

"Salem told me what you did to her a long time ago."

"H-how do you know about Salem?"

"You continue to keep secrets behind my back and here I am still forgiving you. Unlike me Ozpin, Salem intends to make you feel the same pain she had endured when all the people she trusted turned against her."

"It's because…"

"There is someone who is helping her in the outside. After I'm done at Beacon… I'm going to kill Salem and her follower myself and when I do… I'll become what this world needs and she has the tools I need to do it." Jaune walked away from the retired professor and exited the cabin. Ozpin couldn't move his legs, arms, or even his mouth. The way Jaune changed frightened the man to the point of feeling as though his time with him lasted for hours. It's almost as if he was seeing Salem again in front of him.

"Ozpin…" Jaune said, standing outside and looking back at him.

"The choice is yours, would you rather having thousands of lives be taken away because of the war I started or would you rather have the few lives sacrifice themselves to preserve what peace we still have. I've been walking through this world finding sadness and despair at each corner. Although there is some light I still believe that things can change if someone is willing to do it, even if it means doing it yourself."

"What… what do you intend to do Jaune?" Ozpin asked.

"I intend to become the world's enemy. My life and the family line had already tarnished by my actions. When people think of an Arc in the future, it will be me who they will remember as the one who caused everyone problems and spread fear throughout remnant. I will be the one that all the kingdoms will put their focus on rather than each other and when it does, the people will not have to worry about fighting each other. I've made more mistakes that anyone has ever done in their entire life and I will have to live with that my entire life. Well, I guess what time I have left. One week from now, that's when I will do it. Think carefully before you decide what to do." Jaune disappeared into the forest and left Ozpin to wonder what he should do.

"I've wanted to lead you to a different path to follow and it seems no matter how hard I try, the results stay the same. I can't let you do this Jaune, not after what you have been through."

* * *

 **The Red Shattered Night**

"Jaune are you sure you want to do this? This is something that is a whole different level. If you go along with this, there is definitely no future for you to witness. Everything you once remembered, your ideals that you believed in, all of that will be thrown out the window. Everyone will see you as an enemy and no matter what you do you will never be able to take that back. You will need to live with that burden your entire life." Jay said. Jaune looked at the night sky which held a red shattered moon. It's the same moon that he saw when Pyrrha died on his hands.

"Jay… do you remember this? The night sky and the shattered red moon?"

"It's just like that day isn't it? The day we ourselves died?"

"Just by looking at it makes me want to regret my decision, but I know there is no other way to stop this from happening."

"This is to save thousands of lives Jaune. Remember that." The two walked towards the school where their mission was at and it seemed that they walked through this forest for years. Jaune could see the images of the White fang soldier's bodies lying around the trees where he had lost consciousness. Jay could see himself running through the forest trying desperately to reach the school to save his teammates. The two reached the front of the school where the statue was at. Jaune took some time to look at it and swiftly sliced the statue in two.

"Ready?"

"…Yeah."

Jaune's dark aura surfaced and created his armor and mask. Jay pulled out a black mask that many of Jaune's once followers used to carry around. They both entered inside and scanned the area for anyone who might still be awake and noticed no one was nearby.

"I'll take the right and you…" Jay was cut off by Jaune's arm that prevented him from moving on ahead.

"Although I haven't seen you for a while now, I can still sense your aura and it's still the same it was when we first met." From the top right of the steps appeared Yang and Blake. From the top left appeared Ruby and Weiss. From the bottom appeared Qrow and Winter and from behind appeared Ozpin and Ren.

"Jaune…" Ruby said. Jaune looked at all the huntsmen and huntresses that surround him and Jay. He looked at how much each of them had changed since he last saw them.

"You've all changed." Jaune removed his mask and threw it across the room.

"Especially you Ruby."

"Why are you doing this!? Why are you going so far as to kill innocent lives!?" Ruby yelled.

"Don't bother Ruby, he's just another monster that's no different than Rhett and Cinder." Yang said.

"I never thought that you would end up like this Jaune." Qrow said.

"Of all the people you could have sent to stop me Ozpin, you send my old friends?"

"Jaune? Is this what you really want?" Ren asked.

"What happen to Nora Ren? I would think that she would come too."

"I didn't tell her about this. It's better for her not to see what you've become."

"What I've become?"

"Jaune… put the sword down. We can talk about th…" Ozpin could not finish his sentence.

"Shut up! I don't want to talk to you! You of all people decided to send them after me! My own friends who I care about! I never expected you of all people to do this Ozpin! No wait… you're the same person who did this to Salem so I should be ashamed to believe that you wouldn't do the same to me!"

"Jaune I…"

"You know what… I've already decided what I planned on doing. It doesn't matter who stands in my way anymore. No matter who it is… I will cut him or her down if it means saving the majority!"

"Saving the majority?" Most of the people inside muttered. Jaune's aura glowed and had his sword drawn and ready to attack. Everyone prepared for the impending attack and drew their weapons as well.

"Jaune! I'm going to save you whether you like it or not!" Ruby yelled.

 _"_ _Ruby…"_

"You wanted to become a hero that could save the kingdoms and although you changed, I know that dream is still inside you. I'm not going to rest until you realize that there is a way to achieve that without harming innocent lives! I promise to save you without having to kill you!" Jaune smiled and it slowly turned to a small laughter that could be heard.

"What's so funny?" Qrow asked.

"I can't wait to see the look of despair on her face when she realizes… that the dream of ours… the promise she made… is impossible to achieve." The dark aura started to hurl around Jaune intensely to the point where everyone in the school can feel the dark emotions that comes along with it.

"If you think all of you can stop us… you're sadly mistaken!"

 **Alright time to apologize to the people who waited for the chapter, but look at the bright side... it's longer and I didn't stop completely. Well anyways thanks for reading this chapter again, I know the chapter isn't as good as the others, but the upcoming chapters are definitely something that I can excel in. Hopefully. Also I would like to add that I decided to change my mind about giving you a choice in the future. I think it would make things much simpler for me and probably make things much clearer. Well thanks for waiting for this chapter and I will see you at the bottom of the hill when the next chapter comes around and everyone gets to witness their favorite character in all their glory whether it be good or bad!**

 **Next Chapter will be called Malevolent Eyes**

 **See you next time!**


	28. Chapter 28 - Malevolant Eyes

**Chapter 28 – Malevolent Eyes**

"I'll take care of Jaune!" Yang yelled. She used her gauntlets to blast herself towards Jaune, but was immediately intercepted by Jay who kicked Yang across the face sending her hurling towards the wall.

"Yang!" Ruby and her team yelled.

"I'll take care of her and Blake. I'll let you handle the rest Jaune and make sure to follow the plan. When you sense it tell me." Jay jumped towards Blake who drew her katana and thrusted it towards him. Jay pulled his knife just in time to block the attack.

 _"_ _I need to be careful with that blade of hers. One wrong move and she can possibly slice off a limb."_

 _"_ _He's just using a knife, but his strength is something else. Something isn't right about this guy. I need to be careful… he might be hiding something."_

From across the room Jaune was already engaging Qrow and Winter first. He swung his sword viciously and swiftly making it difficult for Qrow to continuously block the attacks. Winter decided it would be best to use her summoning to aid her with her attacks. Jaune knew he was outnumbered but even though he knew that, he didn't think about retreating. He jumped away from the two after Ruby and Weiss both jumped down to their level and were ready to help in stopping Jaune. Jaune felt Ren's aura approaching him from behind and quickly turned and used his semblance to redirect every dust propelled round he shot towards him towards Ruby and the others. Ren placed his weapons away and decided to go with his hand to hand combat instead. Jaune dodged and blocked every punch and kick Ren threw at him with ease and managed to push him back. Before Jaune could react, red pedals circled around him in great speed causing the oxygen to deplete. Ruby planned to keep this up until Jaune fell unconscious. However Jaune detonated a black flame explosion underneath the trail Ruby was running causing her to lose her footing and slide away from him. Jaune rushed towards the fallen former teammate and swung his sword, but in a brief second, Ozpin appeared in front of Ruby and used his cane to block the attack.

 _"_ _What the hell!?"_ Ozpin pushed the sword to the side and delivered 10 quick and precise hits at Jaune that pushed him back towards the main entrance of the school.

 _"_ _What the hell just happened? I only blinked twice and it already feels like Ozpin attacked me at several different spots in a span of 2 seconds. Just what kind of semblance is that?"_

Ruby got up and was prepared to attack again, but was held back by her uncle.

"Listen Ruby, you're going to stay back and let Winter and I handle this."

"But I…" Ruby was cut off by Qrow's speech.

"This isn't the same guy you first met in Beacon Ruby. He is an entirely different person. The one you knew fell into darkness and this is what he turned out to be. Whether you want to believe it or not it's up to you. However if you do not attack with the intent to kill then there is no chance of winning this fight." Qrow rushed ahead leaving Ruby to think what she should do.

 _"_ _I don't know what to do. Why did things have to turn out this way?"_

As the fight was digressing, the students in Beacon were being evacuated and led elsewhere to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. The battle between Blake and Jay escalated outside of the school and Yang managed to catch up to the two.

"Blake!" Yang yelled.

"Is everything going well inside?"

"It's hard to say, but I think they can do it. I thought it would be best if I joined you here."

"Alright let's go ahead and take this guy down. If we can do that quickly then the fight against Jaune will be no problem."

"I hear you. This ought to be easy then." Yang punched her fist together and took her stance.

"I don't know who the hell you are, but you're going to regret coming here." Jaune snapped his fingers and Neo teleported next to him surprising Yang and Blake.

"You!" Yang exclaimed. Neo smiled and bowed to her challenger.

"Like I said before… don't kill her." Jay whispered. Neo simply rolled her eyes and readied her umbrella.

"I will be sure to make you feel the humiliation I felt when we fought in the train, but unlike before… you won't get away!" Yang and Neo rushed each other and both were already going at it. Following behind was Jay who jumped over Neo and pinned down Yang by holding down both of her arms.

"Get off!" Yang kicked Jay in between his legs causing Jay let go and roll to the side. Neo used her umbrella to stop Blake's attacks and push her away from Jay.

"Blake!" Yang yelled. Blake moved to the side and from behind Yang punched Neo, but her umbrella absorbed the impact and only managed to push her away. Jay got back to his feet and rushed towards Yang. Before he could reach her he activated his semblance just in time to go pass through Blake's katana that nearly made contact with Jay's shoulder. He went through the blade and roundhouse kicked Blake across the face, but Blake had activated her semblance and left behind a stone statue that quickly crumbled due to the force behind the kick. Jay quickly took this time to attack Yang from behind, but Yang had no problem grabbing his fist as it was about to collide with the back of her head. Jay kneed Yang right in her stomach and she loosened her grip on his fist and allowed Neo to used the handle of her umbrella to sweep Yang's leg of the floor causing her to trip over and fall. Jay turned Blake and used his knife to stop her katana from slicing through him. Meanwhile, Neo used her semblance to teleport behind Blake and use the same trick twice, but Blake was no fool. She used her semblance to leave behind an explosive clone which detonated immediately. Jay used his semblance to protect herself whereas Neo used her umbrella as a shield. When Jay turned towards Yang she sprung up from the ground and uppercut Jay and followed up with a kick to the stomach which made him roll away. She then pulled her focus onto Neo and used her speed and strength to quickly side step and punch her umbrella off of her hands. The punch was strong enough to send it across the pavement. Neo flipped away from Yang and went straight towards her umbrella to retrieve it, but this is what Yang anticipated. She pulled a gun out of her coat and aimed it towards Neo. Jay saw the weapon she pulled out and immediately recognized what it was. It was his single shot pistol that he had left in the engraved box he had kept hidden. It seems Yang had been using it since his disappearance and now intends to use it against her.

 _"_ _Only two rounds left. I need to make it count."_

"NEO! LOOK OUT!" Jay yelled. The shot rang out and it flew towards her stomach. The bullet pierced through her aura and into her body. Just like every vanquisher's signature weapon, it was designed to bypass a person's aura no matter how much they had. Once the attack is connected, the body becomes paralyzed and the bullet starts eating away at the person's aura until he or she bleeds out and dies. Jay had to act fast and remove the bullet before it ultimately kills her. He rushed towards Neo to help her, but was immediately stopped by Blake who swung her katana at him and managed to hit Jay on his right arm. The cut was deep enough to make it impossible for him to use it efficiently. He kicked Blake away and noticed Yang reloading the gun and ready to shoot it again.

 _"_ _If I use my semblance they'll know who I am, but if I don't Neo will die and I could be next. I have no choice…"_

"This next one is going between her eyes!" Yang yelled. Jay punched through the air causing a massive force to push Yang away and miss the shot. He sped towards Blake who was ready to slice at his other arm, but to her surprise Jay used his semblance and went through her attack. Jay followed up with a powerful uppercut to the stomach picking up Blake into the air and elbowing her. Blake dropped to the floor trying to gasp for air and Jay kicked her towards Yang causing the two to collapse onto the floor.

 _"_ _That semblance… it's just like…"_

 _"_ _That trick won't work the 2_ _nd_ _time. I need to act quickly if I want to stand a chance."_

Jay rushed to Neo's aid and placed his fingers on the bullet hole.

"This is going to hurt Neo." Jay started searching for the bullet lodged inside which was extremely painful for Neo. Although her screams of pain could not be heard, it was clear to him that the pain was excruciating. It only took a few seconds until Jay found the bullet and was able to remove it.

"Stay awake." Before Jay could bandage Neo up, Yang ran towards the two leaving golden trails of flames behind. She swung her fist towards the unsuspecting soldier. The punch managed to connect and send the fighter sliding away holding the front of his face. Although his aura managed to absorb much of the pain, the rest could still be felt. Yang looked down where Neo laid and luckily for Jay, she teleported away to safety.

"Just who the hell are you?" The mask that Jay was wearing broke into small pieces and he had no chance to reveal his identity.

 _"_ _So she's using the gauntlets I made her. This isn't good for me."_

Jay let go of his face and turned around to stare back at the woman who pulled him out of his misery. The look that Yang had was similar to that of a person who had witnessed a ghost. She is witnessing someone who was supposed to be dead. This was something that Jaune knew very well how it felt to see someone return from the grave where you sent them.

"Jay?" Before Yang could ask him a question he was already on his feet and rushing towards her. His first attack was a kick that Yang was prepared to grab, but Jay anticipated this and the kick went right through her. He followed up with a right hook and expected it to land, but Yang knew this is what we intended to do. In a quick motion she managed to grab onto the punch and redirect to elsewhere. Jay activated his semblance again to avoid getting struck and slid away from her.

"How are you alive!?" Jay made no response and continued his barrage of attacks. Blake managed to get back on her feet and head towards Yang to aid her against Jay. She slashed at the fighter, but the attack was pointless since Jay would always activate his semblance once she attacked. Jay dodged Yang's punch and used the momentum to kick her off her feet, but Yang anticipated this and used her hands to jump away from him and land back on her feet. Blake followed up by dual wielding her two Katana. Jay used his knife to block one of the katana whereas he would use his semblance to go through the other. When he found an opening he thrusted his knife towards Blake's abdomen and managed to make contact. However Blake had used her semblance to leave an earth statue and it managed to trap Jay's knife into it. Jay punched the statue to retrieve his knife back and from behind came Yang who fired several shots towards Jay to which he used his semblance to go through every round and try to get a jab on Yang but she managed to grab his fist. He used his other hand as well and Yang did the same exact thing. Jay was now in the hands of Yang with no way to get out. His semblance could only work if he wasn't held on to and if he did activate his semblance, the two would have intangibility and take more aura than it already does. Yang looked straight at Jay's eyes in hopes to find some sort of answer to her question.

"ANSWER ME!" Jay did not respond to her and simply tried to overpower her, but the two were equal in strength.

"If you won't answer me…" A bright yellow flame flickered outside of Yang's eyes and then a powerful surge of aura went through her body. Yang pulled Jay's arm towards her and let go of his fist while still holding the other. Her fist turned to a bright yellow flame could be seen coming straight towards Jay's stomach. He had no way out of this. The hit connected and Jay felt a powerful burning sensation as if his stomach was on fire and in addition to that, the shotgun rounds added to the damage she was producing. Yang continued her devastating punches not allowing Jay to dodge or block any attack. Each punch and kick was quick and powerful which quickly depleted Jay's aura. After receiving several hits from Yang his aura was starting to fade away and he would have nothing to shield him and he wouldn't be able to use his semblance. Jay was now on the floor trying desperately to get back on his feet.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were alive? You've been dead for more than a year and you decided to show yourself now, with the intention of killing innocent students!?" Yang asked. Blake didn't want to interfere with their affair and thought it would be best to let Yang handle it. Yang walked closer to Jay and punched him several times till he dropped again to the floor.

"I never got over your death in Mistral and it continued to eat away at my soul every day." Yang kicked Jay in the stomach which pushed him away from her.

"I blamed my friends for letting you die." Yang kicked Jay again.

"Yang I think you shou…" Blake was cut off by Yang again.

"You decided to team up with that bitch who tried to kill me." Yang kicked Jay once again.

"YANG!" Blake yelled.

"No Blake! He deserves this. He never told us he was still alive and here he is now trying to kill innocent people… trying to kill us. He's no different than Rhett now." Yang's eyes turned crimson red and her hair turned bright

"You left me by myself. I told you about my troubles and you still went ahead and made them worse." Yang picked Jay up from the floor and stared at him dead in the face.

"If it weren't for Blake… I would kill you myself." Jay looked at Yang's crimson red eyes and smiled slightly. Yang saw his smile and quickly looked where his hands were and it was her gun that originally belonged to Jay in his hand and aimed towards her stomach.

"It's not even loaded." Yang said to his face.

"You're right… it wasn't loaded… but now it is." Jay pulled the trigger and the bullet bypassed Yang's powerful aura and was now lodged inside. Jay and Yang dropped to the floor unable to move.

"YANG!" Blake yelled. She rushed towards her and looked at the wound. Although the bullet was inside, Yang was still able to slight move around and get back on her feet. Jay was surprised that even though the bullet was absorbing her aura she still managed to get back up.

"I'm fine Blake." Yang was losing blood, but that didn't bother her one bit. She stumbled her way towards Jay who was still on the ground unable to move. His muscles were worn out and he had several broken bones. He tried to use a flask of aura that he was able to pull out of his belt, but Yang kicked the flask out of his hand and stepped on his arm dislocating it. With no hesitation, she used her fingers to pull out the bullet lodged inside her. Jay was shocked to see that Yang had the strength and willpower to remove something deadly lodged inside her without hesitating one bit.

 _"_ _How's that possible? She shouldn't be able to move."_

After several seconds Yang managed to get a hold on the bullet and pull it out.

"You know what… I don't care what happened that day. What you showed me right now is that you're somebody completely different." Jay looked at the crimson eyed girl.

"Your team isn't the only one you lost now… you lost me too." Yang walked away from Jay and went towards Blake who quickly looked at her wound and bandaged it. Jay grabbed his arm and placed his dislocated bone right back in its place and crawled towards the flask.

"Just stay down and be grateful that you're still alive." Yang said. Jay grabbed the flask and opened it. The aura floated to his mouth and entered inside. Yang stood back up and walked towards him.

"You still intend on fighting me even though you know it's useless."

"Maybe so, but there's something that I wasn't using before."

"So now you decide to talk? What exactly were you not using?" Jay pulled out a ring from his pocket and placed it on his right hand.

"Is that…"

"I told you before what this ring did, but there's more to it than that. Although it won't be enough to beat you it will be enough for me to hold you off." Jay's aura glowed and thanks to the flask his wounds slowly healed, but it wasn't enough to completely heal his fractured bones.

"Well before I end this quickly, tell me how you survived that day. Everyone deserves to know the truth and you know it."

"You're still on about that? I thought you didn't care."

"Just shut up and tell me!"

"If you really want to know that badly… then I'll tell you after we're done here."

"Damn you!" Yang rushed towards Jay once again enraged by his refusal to tell her what had happened to him and both engaged in another intense brawl.

* * *

 _"_ _Just a little longer! I know she'll be here soon!"_ Jaune managed to cripple Qrow when he was caught off guard by the sounds of Yang's yelling outside. Jaune took the opportunity to break his mentor's leg and wound him. However this wasn't enough to keep the rest of his former friends away. They continued their attacks to which only some connected, but Jay was mostly concerned about Ozpin and Ruby who's semblance were much more dangerous than the others. Jaune's sword and Ozpin's cane were attempting to overpower the other, but with no avail.

"You brought them here hoping that it would deter me from doing what I might regret… but it's the other way around." Jaune overpowered Ozpin and kicked him away from him to stop the attack from behind which was Ruby with Crescent Rose. He managed to stop her attack and look through her silver eyes.

"Ruby you know there's no saving me so why don't you just let me go?"

"Do you remember my nightmare?" Jaune remembered when Ruby had told him about her nightmare on their way back from the Abyss watchers.

"Wake up Ruby." Jaune shook the girl who was lying on her bed, tears streaming down her tired face. She opened her eyes and quickly sat up. She looked towards Jaune and hugged him tightly.

"It's just a bad dream." Jaune said.

"It seemed real… too real."

"There, there. Calm down and tell me what it was about." Ruby placed both of her hands on her laps and didn't want to make eye contact with the student.

"We were in the woods and you weren't yourself. The dark aura surrounded you and I could see your eyes turning red and glowing. To me it looked as though you lost control over yourself." Jaune wrapped his arms around Ruby and whispered to her ear.

"I'll never change who I am. If I ever become a nuisance, I'll be sure to stop myself." Ruby grabbed him and pushed him away, but held her grip.

"No! You are not going to do anything like that. I will make sure of it. If it comes down it I'll be the one to pull you out of the darkness just like I did before. I will be the beacon of light that you can follow to return to your former self."

"Ruby…"

Jaune pushed Ruby away and decided to step away from everyone to regain his composure. He couldn't believe that Ruby is continuing to attempt to redirect him to the path she always hoped he followed.

 _"_ _This aura… it's time."_ Jaune turned towards the door and ran outside where Jay and Yang were fighting. He looked where Blake was and sped towards her catching her off guard and managing to connect a dangerous blow towards her chest. The strength behind his attack was so powerful that it managed to shatter the ground.

 _"_ _If Jaune's outside… then that means…"_

"Blake!" Yang yelled. Jay exhausted saw the opportunity to use his one shot pistol and fired it toward Yang's leg. The bullet landed and Yang collapse onto one knee. Before Yang could turn and fight back, Jay had already loaded another round into the chamber and fired it towards her arm. Knowing that her aura is more than any other ordinary person, he loaded it again and fired it. The bullet was now lodged in Yang's other leg. The rest of the teams rushed outside where they witnessed Yang and Blake injured.

"YANG!" Qrow yelled.

"Jay? How are you…" Ren wondered how Jay was still alive. They had told him he died at Mistral.

"Get away from them!" Weiss yelled.

"How is Jay still alive!? Jaune please stop!" Ruby yelled.

Blake opened her eyes and noticed Yang badly wounded and unable to move. A tear started streaming down her eye as she watched her friend being held as a hostage.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance." Qrow growled.

"You had the chance and you squandered it." Jaune walked towards Jay leaving Blake behind to watch as her friend was getting close from dying.

"Yang… I won't let them…" Blake struggled to get back up but her broken ribs made it difficult. Weiss rushed towards Blake's side to help her.

"Just stay down Blake we'll get them."

"I can't… I won't stand by and watch this happen in front of my eyes. Yang has always been on my side, but when Jay was captured I didn't stand by her. I wanted to take out Adam myself, by I couldn't. I was afraid of him… afraid enough to run away from another problem that I could have stopped, but not this time… not again." Jay grabbed Yang by the hair and aimed the barrel of his gun to her head.

"Let her go!" Blake yelled. Everyone looked towards Blake's direction and saw black aura seeping out.

"This is my fault. Had I sided with Yang and went to help Jay this would have never have to happen. Yang would be happy, Jay would not become a serial killer, and maybe Jaune would not have turned out like this." The wind picked up and the current removed the ribbon off her head revealing her cat ears. Blake saw images of her past when she was discriminated for being a Faunus. She was tired of running away from her problems. This time however, she plans on running towards them and ending fixing it. The dark aura formed a cat like shadow that surrounded her entire body. The aura formed claws on both hands that could easily leave deep cuts that can kill any ordinary person. The scene was astonishing to everyone at the area. This was something that no one would think would happen.

"That's not possible!" Jaune yelled. Jay unable to move or react to what he was witnessing. He couldn't believe what was in front of him.

"That's…" Weiss said.

"I'll get Yang back Ruby… Weiss. Don't worry." Blake rushed towards Jaune and Jay who held Yang onto the floor.

"Blake." Yang quietly said.

 _"_ _How did she manage to awaken the dark!? Let alone be conscious of her surroundings!?"_

"Jay, stay where you're at and hold Yang down. I'll deal with her!" Jaune activated his dark aura and held nothing back.

"If you think you can beat me now that you're like me, you're sadly mistaken!" Jaune grabbed his sword and rushed towards Blake whose pupils turned vertical like how a cat's are. Ruby was ready to assist Blake, but was stopped by her uncle who placed his hand on her shoulder.

"We don't know if Blake's conscious right now. It's best to wait it out for now."

Jaune thrusted his sword forward aiming for Blake's chest, but Blake slashed the sword elsewhere allowing her to use her other hand to claw at Jaune's chest. Her attack connected and Jaune jumped away from the black cat that did not pause for a second. She continued to claw away at Jaune who managed to avoid every attack. He found an opening and quickly capitalized on it. He swung his sword towards Blake's legs to sweep her off her feet and thrust his sword straight toward her stomach. Right when he was about to do that, Blake aimed her grappling hook at Jaune's face and launched it. It managed to his face and dazed him for a few seconds allowing her to kick his sword away and throw her katana towards his direction, pinning him to a tree. Without thinking she ran straight towards him planning to claw his guts out, but Jaune anticipated this.

"Wait Blake stop!" Weiss yelled. Jaune had used his polarity to slightly move the katana so that he would still be able to grab it and use it against Blake. He swiftly grabbed the katana and thrusted it towards Blake, impaling her.

"I'm sorry Blake." Jaune then realized that Blake's body turned to a fiery state and exploded. The explosion sent him rolling away, but he managed to regain his balance. He scanned the area for Blake and his sword and noticed the black aura traces heading straight towards him.

 _"_ _I know what she plans to do and I will definitely not fall for it again."_ Jaune ran towards his sword to pick it up, but he sensed Blake's aura coming in close. Although he was just a few feet away, he used his polarity again to retrieve his sword. However, Blake was already next to him. He looked towards her direction and everything seemed to slow down for Jaune. He saw two clones appear in front of him. The one on the left swung her katana horizontally, the middle one's katana came straight down vertically, and the right one swung it horizontally as well. There was no escape for this unless he had a way to redirect each blade slightly elsewhere. Luckily for him, Blake did not know he had obtained the same semblance that Pyrrha had and at the same time the attack was coming, his sword finally returned to his hand. He took two steps forward and lunged towards her with his dark sword in hand. He slightly made the katana on the right and left higher than usual that would allow him to duck underneath and strike Blake. His plan worked and his sword damaged her aura severely. He used the momentum to continue his successful attacks and depleted her aura to half of what it was already at. Jaune finished his attack with a diagonal slash and a strong kick. She went sliding away towards her team and Jaune returned to Jay's side. Exhausted by the battle he signaled Jay to hurry with the plan and he nodded with agreement. He placed the barrel of the gun to the side of Yang's head and Jaune called out to someone.

"I know you're out here right now! Show yourself!" Everyone but Jay and Jaune wondered who he was calling out to.

"If you value your daughter's life you will show yourself right now!" From the darkness appeared Raven.

"Raven!?" Qrow said.

"…Mom?" Yang said, struggling to keep herself awake.

"Jaune… let Yang go. You don't have to harm her." Raven said.

"I will do so until you take me where Salem is being kept."

"Salem!?" Ozpin and Ruby yelled.

"I see… you planned on using Yang to lure me here and reveal myself, but how did you know I would be here?"

"Months after the incident in Mistral, Jay had been keeping a close eye on you and your activities. He noticed you watching the school for some time now and saw you and Yang communicating with one another."

"Jay… was watching us?" Yang murmured.

"After seeing your face when you appeared with Salem and Jay telling me about you keeping a close eye on the school, I realized you're identity. Qrow had mentioned to me how your ways of doing things were questionable and the fact that you looked similar to Yang made me understand that you are Yang's mother and we all know how mothers are when their child is in trouble."

"Why exactly did you plan on Raven being here?" Ozpin asked. Jaune looked over to Jay and signaled him to tell everyone about their plan.

"Like Jaune said before, we planned on baiting Yang's mother out here to take us to Salem so that we can kill her. Ozpin, do you remember when Jaune told you what he planned to do? Well he knew that you wouldn't allow such a thing to happen and would bring huntsmen and huntresses to defend the school from him. We hoped that you would bring Qrow so that we can use him, but instead of just him and a few strangers you decided to bring team RWBY and what is left of team JNPR."

"Then killing one of Vale's government officials to make Vale look innocent and the plan to kill the students here was just a lie?" Ozpin asked.

"Killing the government official wasn't a lie. We actually took part in the assassination. However, the plan to kill the students here was a lie. We knew you would inform the teams and send them to guard the school. We took a gamble on Qrow, hoping that you would tell him about our plan and he would tell Raven about the plan as well since he has had some communication with her, but it seems we didn't have to worry about it since you decided to bring these people instead and we were certain that Yang would tell her mother about this gathering." Everyone stopped to look at Raven who kept her eyes on Yang as her aura depleted.

"Now you're going to take us where Salem is currently being kept or else I'll place a bullet right through your daughter's head." Jay said.

"Jay!" Jaune was shocked that Jay would say something like that. He knew that Jay's personality changed, but he never thought it would escalate to this. He saw the condition Yang was in and he couldn't believe that Jay didn't show a sign of remorse or guilt.

"Fine I'll take you. However I want you to let my daughter go first."

"That's not going to happen. She's our insurance if you decide to take back your word. We're taking her with us." Blake, Raven, and Qrow gritted their teeth in anger. They couldn't believe that Jay would stoop that low and hurt someone who he used to be connected with. The sight of seeing Yang injured and defenseless was enough for them to give themselves a reason to kill Jay.

"Rhett really messed your head up huh." Jay's calm look turned to a vexed look when she responded to him with that comment.

"Rhett? Jay what is she…"

"How do you kno… you know what… it doesn't matter. Just shut up and take us to Salem." Raven nodded and slashed through the air opening a dark red portal. Jaune and Jay carried Yang into the portal and Raven followed behind. However the other teams wouldn't let them out of their sight and acted quickly to enter inside.

"I'm not leaving Yang with the both of them!" Blake's aura shrouded her and she managed to speed her way inside the red portal.

"Blake, wait!" Weiss used her glyphs to throw her into the portal.

"I'm not letting her to take you Jaune!" Ruby used her semblance to rush inside the portal before it closed. Ozpin had used his semblance to follow behind Ruby and entered inside as well.

"I'm not going to make it!" Ren yelled. However, someone from behind grabbed him and it was none other than Nora who wrapped her arm around him and used her hammer to blast the two inside.

"I thought I told you to stay at home!"

"How can I do that when our fearless leader needs our help?" Qrow and Winter were the only ones who could not make in time especially when Qrow's leg was injured.

"Dammit! Why did I have to mess up my leg? Dammit." Qrow said.

"You shouldn't worry. Team RWBY is capable of taking those two out no problem." Winter said.

"That's not what I'm afraid of."

"What do you mean?"

"Raven is someone who can't be easily fooled. Something tells me she knew about someone has been watching her and something tells me that she knew about Jaune's plan."

"What can possibly make you think that?"

"I know my sister enough to know that she wouldn't put her daughter in a situation that could possibly get her killed. Ask yourself why would she appear late into the battle and not appear when it began? The only thing we can do now is hope that Ozpin can keep them safe."

* * *

Everyone appeared inside the dark woods where the abyss watchers were stationed. Although they teleported outside their small village, it wouldn't take long to reach it on foot. Everyone quickly got back on their feet and maintained their guard. Jay got down on one knee and started to remove the bullets off of Yang, but Blake was still upset at what he had done.

"Blake calm down. I'm going to remove the bullets in order to save Yang." Jay said.

"No! I can't trust you after what you did. Leave her there and I'll do it instead!" Jaune nodded at Jay and he agreed to leave Yang to her. Jay stumbled to get up due to the injuries he sustained when fighting Yang. Jaune helped him up and they both headed towards the small village.

"We're going to follow Jaune, make sure Ms. Xiao Long recovers quickly because we are going to need her assistance soon." Ozpin said. Ren and Nora followed the professor.

"Don't worry Yang I'm here. Just hold still okay, this is only going to hurt a bit." Tears were streaming down Blake's face as she started to remove the bullet from her leg and her arm. Seeing Yang wounded and miserable made her upset. It's as if it was her fault that she ended up like this.

"So… he was using me." Yang said.

"I'm sorry Yang… I couldn't help you sooner." Blake cried. Yang placed her hand on her cheek and gave a small smile to comfort Blake.

"It's fine. We're alive aren't we?" Blake smiled and wrapped her arms around her.

"Blake it's hard to breathe when you're squeezing me."

"Is Yang going to be fine?" Ruby asked.

"She lost a lot of blood, but it isn't life threatening. Her aura is slowly healing her injuries, so it's going to be a while until she is able to move again." Weiss said.

"Thank goodness." Ruby looked to where Jaune and Jay were walking and she couldn't stop herself from following them. She got up and marched towards their direction.

"Hey wait! Where are you going Ruby?" Weiss asked.

"They're heading to Salem. They say she is powerful and is someone to be feared. If they are going to stop her, then I should be there to help them and make sure Jaune doesn't get himself killed." Ruby started running towards them, leaving her team behind to take care of Yang.

"Mom… who's Salem?" Yang asked. Raven got on her knees and placed her hand on Yang's head.

"Yang… I want you to know that what I'm doing is for the both of us. Please don't think wrong of me."

"Mom what are you trying to say?"

"Take care of my daughter… please." Raven said to Blake. Blake was puzzled by what she was saying. Raven got up and walked towards the village.

"Mom…. Wait!" Yang tried to get up, but collapsed again.

"We need to follow her." Yang said, desperately trying to get back on her feet.

"You need to rest Yang. You're body hasn't fully healed yet."

"Damn it!" Yang punched the ground in frustration. She hoped to quickly recover and join the others, but it seems that it will be a while till she can join up with them. Blake stood up and held out her hand.

"I'll help you get there. Let's go."

"But if something bad happens, you will not fight. You need to wait until you're fully healed." Weiss stated.

"Yeah… no problem."

"By the way Yang, what did you mother mean by taking care of you?" Blake asked.

"I don't know, but it doesn't sound good."

"Jaune wait…" Jay said. Jaune halted and allowed Jay to rest for a bit. The injuries he sustained made it difficult for him to continue moving. He took the time to explain a few things to Jaune before they make it to the watchers.

"Jaune… you said that Salem knew you would return and in a way she is right, but what do you truly intend to do. You're not planning to help her are you?"

"I don't plan on it. I want to kill her so that we don't have to worry about her escaping."

"Then why don't we simply kill Raven. She is the one who is trying to free Salem and if we stop her then we wouldn't have to worry about Salem."

"You're right… but what's to say that she is the only one helping her. For all we know there could be others who are trying to free her as well. If we get rid of her, then we wouldn't have to worry about someone else freeing her."

"And if you can't kill her? What will you do then?"

"…"

"Don't tell me you intend to…"

"Jaune!" Ren yelled. The others made it to the two who went ahead of them.

"Why did you follow us? You should have all stayed behind." Jaune said.

"Why didn't you tell us about your plan? We could have helped you and not make this into a big problem."

"I didn't want involve any of you with this problem. Besides, you all have a future to look forward to… I don't. I'm a criminal on the run who is wanted from all kingdoms. I have no future." Ruby walked in front of him and slapped him across the face and kept her hand on his cheek.

"You'll have no future with that attitude. We can make things work out together Jaune. You aren't alone and you never were. You always had people behind you who are willing to lend you a hand whenever you needed it. We don't want to lose you."

"Ruby I…"

"She's right Jaune." Jay said.

"…"

"You can still help people in need. You just have to be yourself and stop struggling to find out who you exactly are. You're Jaune Arc, a proud knight who leads other people to peace and happiness. It may not seem like it right now, but like I said before… you have a voice that helps guide people to the right direction. The only problem is that you don't trust what comes out of your mouth anymore, but the people you led will help you trust yourself again." Jaune was struggling on what he should do. He doesn't see a future that he could live with. He believes that he would only bring despair to the people close to him. He can't guarantee that his friends will be fine with him being around. He was a moving bullseye that every kingdom intends to hit. There's no chance that he would be able to live a comfortable life and can't risk the possibility of someone close getting killed because of his actions. He doesn't want to feel the same pain he had when he lost Pyrrha.

"We're still a team Jaune." Ren said.

"You're our leader who isn't afraid to protect his teammates and that's one of the many things I still like about you. Well not like like…" Nora said.

"When this is over… I'll…" Jaune quickly turned to the direction of the watchers' village. He started to sense an abnormal aura that he once felt. It was a long time since he felt this, but it was still clear in his head of what it reminded him of. It was an aura, a presence that made him extremely attracted to it. It was Salem's aura no doubt. He could never forgive the feeling he got when Salem placed her hand on his cheek, but that wasn't all what he felt. He felt many aura's quickly depleting and vanishing. He could only think that whatever that aura belonged to... it was killing the abyss watchers that were guarding the Mausoleum.

"We need to get to the village quick!" Jaune bolted towards the village with the others trailing behind.

"What is it Jaune!? Why are you running all of a sudden!?" Ozpin asked.

"I can feel many aura quickly fading and I can only think that the aura that are being depleted belong to the abyss watchers!"

"The Abyss Watchers?"

"They continued the Abyss walker's legacy!"

"It's been so long since I've been there. How much aura does she have exactly!?"

"… more than I do."

"What!?" Jay yelled.

"That can't be possible! The only person who would have more would be…" Ozpin paused for a second and stopped running. Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Why are you stopping professor?" Weiss asked.

"It has to be Salem."

"No that's not possible. You and I both know that she is locked inside the Mausoleum unable to get out unless…" Jaune paused for a moment.

"Unless someone got her out." Ruby said. Jaune and Ozpin's struggled to believe that someone managed to free Salem and the thought of Salem being freed was enough to make them forget to breathe.

"Where's Raven?" Jay yelled.

"She stayed behind with Yang." Ruby said.

"There's no stopping now. We're almost there just a few more seconds and we'll be there. Keep running." Jay said. Everyone rushed towards the village and when they reached it they found a something out of a horror book. The village was massacred and the homes had collapsed. Whatever did this did not hold anything back. Jay got down on one knee and inspected one of the many bodies that were scattered around the area. The body had several stab wounds and a leg completely sliced off.

"What kind of monster could do this?" Weiss asked, her hand covering her mouth trying desperately to not puke. The bloody sight made it difficult for them to continue walking towards the sound of blades colliding to one another repeatedly.

"We need to be careful. There's no telling what we will face." Jay said. Upon reaching to the sounds of blades colliding, they manage to find two abyss watchers lifted up from the ground by Salem who was just outside of the Mausoleum.

"To think all of you would continue his legacy to stop the dark. I have the perfect punishment… you shall become the very thing you tried to so hard to stop… just like him." She released her dark aura onto one of the abyss watchers and hurled him inside the Mausoleum and stared at the other watcher that was trying to her hand off of him.

"It's time for you to feel what it is like not to die in a world where time does not end." She hurled the other watcher inside as well where they will both remain until someone else decides to set them free. The last surviving Abyss watcher was lying on the ground, attempting to stand back up by using his great sword as a cane.

"Do you think that weaklings like you can continue the Abyss walker's legacy? If he were here I'm sure he would be insulted." When Salem took a step forward, aura filled with embers slowly rose from the dead bodies around them as well.

"What is this?" Salem asked. The ember filled aura then entered inside the last Abyss watcher and when it did, the Abyss watcher's great sword ignited with a flame that could brighten the night and his entire body turned to ember.

"So it seems that you all had something up your sleeves. Show me how much this world has progressed over the years, show me how much this legacy means to you!" The Abyss Watcher got back to his feet and bent both of his knees. He lowered his hips close to the ground and leaped towards Salem with his flame great sword in his right hand and his dagger in his left.

"I think it would be best to stay here and wait until the other weakens." Weiss said.

"We need to help him. With that power we have an even bigger chance of winning against Salem." Ruby said.

"You're right. Let's go around her back and try to take her by surprise."

"Well, well, well… it seems there are other means of seeing someone's true colors hehe." Everyone turned to see the person who said that except Jay. Jay did not look nor did he bother turning around, but inside he knew who exactly said that. He could never forget that voice, that chuckle.

"Rhett!" Jaune yelled. Rhett stood at a safe distance from them.

"It is impolite to not greet your closest friend… Jay." Rhett said.

"Closest friend? Jay what is he talking about?" Jaune asked. Jay refused to answer.

"What is he talking about Jay?" Weiss asked.

"Don't tell me you still haven't forgotten what you did after you running away from me."

"…" Jay said.

"Running away from him? Jay what is Rhett talking about?" Jaune said.

"You haven't told them anything about it? You shouldn't keep secrets from your friends." Rhett said.

"…" Jay quickly turned around and fired his single shot pistol towards Rhett, but the bullet was nowhere close to the target. The shot was heard through the woods which caught Salem and the Abyss Watcher's attention.

"Dammit." Jaune muttered.

"It seems as though you returned… Jaune. I will be right with you soon, once I'm done with this pest." Salem pulled out a staff from a small black void that appeared next to her. This looked similar to Jaune's semblance when he awakened the Dark. From the trail arrived Blake and Yang who were recovering from the previous battle.

"It seems as though we are all reunited once again." Rhett chuckled.

"Why exactly are you here Rhett?" Jaune asked.

"Rhett?" Yang said.

"Well you see… my help was requested by a woman who apparently knows what I'm interested in. Apparently my skills were needed here to get someone out and of course the only person who was capable of doing it was me."

"You let Salem out!?" Jaune yelled.

"It was a complicated procedure that required a certain aura, but yes. I did and the reward for doing so will be fantastic!"

"There is no reward! She intends to wipe out humanity!"

"Exactly! Do you know how much I will get to know people? Know their true natures more!? I will know them better than their close relatives."

"You're insane!" Weiss yelled.

"Me insane? You should be telling that to Mr. Quick Killer over there." Rhett pointed towards Jay who didn't want to be the center of attention.

"I find it funny how you all think you know each other pretty well, but let's be honest here… you don't know anything about one another." Rhett said.

"Umm… Yang was it? You think you know you're mother pretty well, but did you know that she was the one who warned me when you were about to find me?"

"What? No that can't… mom." Yang looked over to Raven who was several feet away from her. Raven refused to look at her daughter after Rhett had revealed what she had been doing.

"She has been giving you information about my whereabouts that are true by the way, so that she can gain your trust again. When you were about to find me she would tell me to give me enough time to get away and be far away from you. It was pretty much a wild goose chase."

"You were…" Yang's eyes turned crimson red just like her mother's and all she could do at the moment is form a fist in anger and punch the ground.

 _"_ _Why do I continue to be used like this? I don't know who to trust anymore."_

"Jaunney boy you think that you know what is wrong with Jay, but I know very well why he is acting the way he is right now. Do you want to know?"

"Don't. It's none of his or anyone's business." Jay said.

"I've had it with all these lies!" Yang yelled. Jay looked over to Yang and noticed her eyes glaring back at him.

"I want to hear the truth about you…" Yang stopped and looked back her mother.

"… and you."

"I promised you that I would tell you the truth after we were done fighting. If you really want to know what happened after the incident... I would rather have you all hear it through my mouth and not..." Jay looked towards Rhett with a relaxed expression.

"... Through his."

 **Hey everyone it's been a while since I uploaded another chapter. I do apologize and I do wish I can upload these much sooner, but if you didn't know I do a lot of things on the side which tend to keep me busy and it's somewhat difficult to put in some time to type out the chapters when you need some free time for yourself other than make chapters. I hope that I can upload another chapter this week. I will see you all later.**

 **Next Chapter will be called... "The Four Black Swordsmen"**


	29. Chapter 29 - The Four Black Swordsmen

**Chapter 29 – The Four Black Swordsmen**

 **A long overdue chapter. Sorry for the long hiatus, but here's the chapter you been waiting for. Hopefully this long chapter will ease your anger and frustration and if you weren't satisfied with it, then I hope you can hold back some of that frustration.**

"I rather have you all hear it through my mouth rather than his." Everyone placed their attention at Jay who was about to explain why he was still alive and how everything about him changed.

"When I was captured, Rhett had already devised a plan to stage my death to make it appear to all of you as though I died in the explosion after you had come to a decision to save Yang rather than me. The place I was being kept was at a different location and when the bomb went off it was the structure where Yang and an empty bomb rigged storage that exploded. There would be no way for anyone to find out if I was still alive since the explosion would have completely disintegrated me."

"But why… why would he want to keep you alive? What good would that do for him?" Weiss asked.

"Rhett has been obsessed with me since the moment he killed Ash back at Beacon during the attack. Even I don't know the full details, but what I do know is that there is a connection between Jaune and I based on what has happened parts of our life. He believes there's a similar pattern to those who end up having control over the dark or being able to possess this power."

"And what exactly is that?" Jaune asked.

"It was when Blake awoke that same power that you have obtained when I realized he was right. Just like Jaune, Blake had always wished she could go back and change certain things in her life and just like Jaune she lost something precious to her whether she believes it or not."

"Precious?" Blake said.

"You know that Adam was never the man that he ended up to be. Before The White Fang group turned to a terrorist group, they peacefully protested against those who discriminated them for being Faunus. However things didn't work out well for him and you, so he and the organization changed tactics. You Blake, have seen it first-hand how it changed Adam. He used to be a loving childhood friend who slowly descended to the man who would want to enslave and even wipe out humanity from the face of Remnant."

"How did you know about…" Blake was quickly interrupted by Jay.

"It's not that hard searching information about all of you. All it takes is a few calls and searches and you can find what others don't want you to see." Blake lowered her head knowing that he was right about Adam. He was never the man who would hurt others for his cause. This world turned him into a selfish vile man. She wished it was her to take Adam away from this world in order for it to alleviate the guilt she has been carrying for being unable to change Adam's ways. Had she done something about it sooner, maybe she would have been able to stop the attack on Beacon. Had she stopped him maybe Pyrrha wouldn't have had to die and Jaune would have not turned out like this. These thoughts kept eating her away.

"Rhett thought that maybe I would most likely awaken this darkness compared to others… so he did what he firmly believed would be an easier and faster way to achieve that." Jay found it hard to remember what had happened during his disappearance. Not because he couldn't remember, but because of the awful things Rhett had done to him.

"And what was it?" Jaune asked.

 **2 Months after the Mistral Incident…**

"Please … just let me…" Jay was struck be a lead pipe right in his stomach. He was badly beaten and tortured for the past 2 months without being given an explanation for it. Jay was stuck in an endless loop of getting tortured by Rhett and after another month he was finally given the explanation behind Rhett's motives. It was just exactly how Jay explained it to everyone. Rhett expected that his experiment was correct and he would be able to make Jay awake the dark aura, but a crucial piece was missing.

"I don't have that power inside me. Just ***cough* *cough*** kill me already."

"Oh I think you do. You just need a little… PUSH…" Rhett bashed Jay's back with a baseball bat that was stained with blood that belonged to many other people that were subject to the same torture as Jay.

"… to the right direction." Rhett threw the baseball bat across the room and decided it was time to brand Jay with his initial. He pulled an iron tool used for branding that had the letter R that was already hot and ready to be burned onto a person's flesh.

"No… wait hold on! What are you going to do with that?" Jay asked. He tried to move away from the burning iron rod approaching him, but since his hands were tied and he was dangling from the ceiling it was impossible for him to escape.

"You belong to me now Jay and when you look at your mark you will always remember me. Hahaha." Rhett carefully aimed it on Jay's back.

"NO DON'T!" Jay yelled. The iron tool was now burning his skin and Jay's scream could be heard throughout the structure. The smell of burning flesh filled the room and after it was all done, the mark was clear enough to be seen from several feet away.

 **Two Weeks Later…**

"Have fun." Rhett said. He threw a shiv to Jay who was handcuffed and unable to use his aura or his semblance. Jay picked up the knife from the ground and looked around the dimly lit room. This room was somewhat wide, enough to hold at least 20 people. It seemed as though it was once a fairly sized ballroom turned into a cell. Jay looked around the room trying to find a way out, but there was no way of escaping. The room was dirty to the point where rats could be seen running in and out of it. The windows were barred off so there was no way for Jay to break out especially since his muscles had diminished because of the lack of food he had been receiving. After several minutes of inspecting the cell, he gave up and simply sat against the wall with his shiv in his grasp. Throughout the night he could hear the screams and cries of other people that were in the same position as he was. The only thing that kept him sane was the thought of his friends. He believed that maybe they'll know he is still alive and come rescue him or at the very least being able to escape. After several hours, he heard several footsteps approaching from the door several feet away from him. Jay hid the shiv in his back pocket as the metal door opened. Out came several people who without a doubt were just kidnapped no longer than a week or 2. Their clothes were stained with blood and covered in dirt. Their clothes although torn and their arms and face bruised. Jay counted how many were brought into the room and came up with an idea to use these people to overpower their captors, but he waited until the captors left the room.

 _"_ _4\. I'm not sure if that would be enough."_ Jay walked over to the group and stopped when he heard the door from the other side of the room open. Another 4 prisoners were brought in and then a few seconds later another 5 prisoners were brought. While others yelled for help, some simply sat down and cried. Jay walked over to a man who was yelling for help through one of the barred off windows.

"It's pointless. Something tells me we are in a forest that isn't inhabited by people."

"You don't know that unless we try!" He continued yelling and before Jay could tell him about his plan, the sounds of speakers turned on and the cell turned silent.

"Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. I hope you're having a lovely time because things are just getting started." It was none other than Rhett was talking.

"What the hell do you want from us!? Why don't you just let us go!?" A man yelled.

"Please let us go! We won't tell anybody about this please!" A woman screamed. Everyone started giving a reason to let them go except Jay who was trying to think what Rhett could be planning.

"Settle down everyone. I have an offer for you all. Since I'm feeling generous today… I will let one of you free."

 _"_ _What are you planning Rhett?"_ Jay wondered.

"Whoever is the last person standing will be allowed to leave. We will not pursue you nor will we find you." Everyone started panicking and looking at one another with fear in their eyes. Those who opposed to the idea yelled and tried to reason with him however that was useless. Rhett had already planned this from the beginning.

"If you will not take my offer then it's fine. I'll come back to check on all of you within an hour. If there isn't one person alive then that means you refused my offer and all of you get to stay in this wonderful home." The speakers turned off and every single person backed away from one another. Each person telling the other that they have a family and have to return home. Another person ran towards the window and yelled for help yet again.

"No wait! We can work together an overpower him! We can do this if we work together!" Jay said.

"You're probably planning to stab us in the back when we're not looking!" A woman yelled.

"You need to trust me! If we come up with a plan I'm sure we can…" before Jay could finish his sentence one of the prisoners carried a shiv in his hand and had just stabbed a woman from behind.

"No wait stop!" Jay yelled. A woman across from him rushed towards a man and stabbed him in the throat. The man didn't even have a chance to fight back. In just a few seconds, everyone in the room started stabbing one another and attempting to kill Jay who had no problem dodging and maneuvering through the scared crowd with his hands still cuffed.

"Please listen to me! I'm trying to help!" Jay turned to see a man taller and built compared to Jay who has already lost some muscles rushing towards and pinning him onto the floor. The man used his shiv to stab Jay on the face, but Jay was able to move his head to the side and avoid the deadly attack. Jay managed to get both of his hands onto the man's hands that had the shiv gripped tightly in his palms. At that point, it was a match of strength and although Jay had weakened, he still had some strength to keep it level.

"Stop, stop, stop, we can work together!" Jay yelled. Using every ounce of strength he still had to avoid the shiv from puncturing him.

"I have 2 kids and a wife back at home. They need me alive. I'll make sure to tell the officers of this place. Just let me do it." The shiv was aimed directly at Jay's heart and was just an inch away.

"NO! NO! NO!" The shiv slowly pierced through his skin and before it could go any deeper, a woman appeared next to them and kicked the man off of Jay. He let go of the shiv and the woman quickly grabbed it off of Jay thinking he was dying and unable to fight back. She stabbed the man several times in the stomach. Jay quickly got up and looked towards the woman who was now rushing Jay. Jay stepped to the side and grabbed her arm that held the shiv. He twisted her forearm making her drop the shiv and pulled it towards him. He kneed her in the stomach and flipped her over to the ground.

"Just listen to me! I'm trying to help y…" Before Jay can even finish his sentence, he noticed two men from each side rushing towards him. Jay quickly turned to one of them and used his momentum to grab the man and throw him to the other.

"Won't any of you listen to me!?" An hour passed and the metal door that prevented the prisoners from escaping unlocked and opened. Rhett walked in with two other men into the room. They saw what was left of the people who fought for their freedom and the only survivor was none other than Jay. He stood there with a shiv on his hand and a dead body in front of him. The shocked look in his eyes was enough to satisfy Rhett with his awful experiment. Rhett signaled the two men to retrieve Jay and they followed his orders. As they were about to grab him Jay used the shiv to stab one of them in the stomach and quickly turn to the other. He grabbed the man's arm and pulled it to get him off balance. He then kicked the man off his feet and broke his arm. Jay turned to the other man who pulled the shiv out of his body and tried to stab Jay. Jay ducked and punched the man in the stomach and flipped him over. He placed his foot on the side of the man's neck while holding his arm with both hands and snapped it with no hesitation. Jay filled with outrage rushed towards Rhett with the shiv in hand and aimed it to Rhett's neck. With an immediate response, Rhett pushed Jay's hands away and tripped him. Before Jay could get up Rhett slammed his foot onto Jay's hands breaking one of them. Jay yelled in pain and saw Rhett lean over to him.

"I didn't think you had it in you. I didn't think you would be able to kill those innocent people."

"Shut up! You made me do it! I had no other choice! They wouldn't trust me… none of them!" Rhett looked into Jay's eyes hoping to see some sign of the dark aura emerging, but at the same time scanning through Jay. He was analyzing Jay's emotions, his thoughts, and his reactions.

"I hate you!" Jay yelled. Rhett kicked the shiv out of Jay's line of sight and started to kick and punch him. Another month went by and Rhett continued to use the same method to get Jay to awaken the dark aura. Rhett used Jay's beliefs about saving people against him. Instead of saving someone, he was only saving his life and sacrificing the many. It didn't take long until Rhett had a breakthrough.

"What have I done that helped!? Why can't I help people!? Why am I forced to kill those I swore to protect to survive!? What does that make me!? What is there left for me!? I lost my team, I lost my purpose, I lost… there's nothing, nothing left for me at all!"

For a moment a foul presence was felt in the room, but it quickly diminished.

"Kill me. Just kill me." Jay said.

"You know I can't do that. We're so close from finishing this so hold out for a little longer. There are still plenty of things to do before that." Rhett said. Jay had an empty look in his eyes. He was tired of convincing others to aid him to escape, but after killing over 40 people not one stopped to listen to him and he no longer cared. He stopped convincing them and instead, fought back. The only thing he able to convince was himself that he would survive by whatever means and believe that their deaths or what he likes to call it their "Sacrifice" will benefit the future. He killed each of them without having remorse. It was like a chore for him to do that no longer negatively affected him.

 **One Month Later…**

"We can work together. We don't have to do this please." A girl that looked his age said. She had black hair with navy blue highlights. She looked as though she was recently brought in here. Her eyes looked similar to that of Jaune which brought some memories to Jay. Blue eyes; eyes filled with hope that she will one day escape. Although she looked innocent, she managed to stay alive after the massacre that had started.

"You don't mean that." Jay said.

"I do. Please listen to me. We can find a way out if we work together. You can trust…" Without listening to another word she said Jay slashed at her chest. She barely managed to jump away, but the laceration was deep enough to cause heavy bleeding. Jay walked over to her as she crawled away from him.

"Please… stop." The weeping girl said. Jay went straight for her heart, she quickly moved to the side, but was stabbed in the shoulder.

"Stop moving. If you keep this up you'll only end up dying slowly and painfully." She continued to crawl away even though it was pointless. She used her unharmed arm to drag herself towards the door across the room.

"I don't… want to… die." Jay used his foot to flip her on to her back and pin her down. Her body and white shorts stained with the prisoner's blood.

"Roy…" She stretched her arm towards Jay attempting to stop Jay from killing her. Jay plunged the makeshift knife straight to her heart, making sure this time he wouldn't miss. A gasp was only heard coming out of her mouth as she lay motionless on the floor with blood spilling out from her lacerations. Jay removed his foot off her stomach and walked over to the wall, stepping over dead bodies and through puddles of blood that was spilled by his hands. He leaned against the wall and fell onto his rear. He dropped the shiv and placed his arms on his knees.

"She didn't mean that. She would've killed me, but I'll make sure their deaths aren't in vain. I'll get out of here… and when I do… I'll make sure to put an end to all their roguery."

* * *

 **The Users of the Past**

"That's why I'm like this. Rhett's sadistic experiments created what you are seeing. I lack human emotions. That was the only way I could keep myself alive. The only thing that crosses my mind now is results… results that will aid the people… no matter the cost." Jay looked towards Yang.

"I don't expect forgiveness for my actions today. Resent me all you want because in the end of the day it was to protect the people.

"Protect the people?" Yang asked.

"How the hell is nearly killing me helping anybody? Even when you told me about your sad story it still pains me to forgive what you did to me and you're right. You are someone entirely different. You're someone I would love to beat into a bloody pulp." Yang gritted her teeth and formed a fist in both hands. Jay looked at her hands and looked away.

"The only thing I can do now is stop Salem and Rhett, but obviously Salem is a whole different level. I'll let you take care of her Jaune. You're the only one who has a decent chance of beating her."

"You may think so, but it doesn't mean I have to do it alone. I have my friends here to help me out along the way." Jaune said, placing his hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Well isn't this something. I feel a tear about to come out after listening to this beautiful revelation. It's probably because I'm so tired.

"Does it look like I give a damn?" Jay said.

"That's pretty rude of you. I guess I'm going to have to make you relive those painful moments of yours again." Rhett pulled out two short blades from his coat and rushed towards Jay.

"Go and stop Salem! I'll take care of him personally." The teams rushed towards the Watcher's aid however, Yang remained back, trying to come up with a decision whether to help Jay out or go help her friends with Salem, but it was then when she noticed Raven hiding close by. Jaune didn't hesitate to unleash a powerful crescent black aura to Salem which managed to push her away far enough for the watcher to create some space between them.

"What's the meaning of this Jaune?" Salem asked.

"You're going to die here. That's what's going on."

"Please… do you honestly believe you can defeat me? Jaune… you and I are both alike. Same ambitions, we've been treated the same way, and we lost something precious to us."

"Jaune isn't like you Salem!" Ruby said.

"Oh really? Then let me pose you a question. Has Jaune been labeled as a criminal by the people he saved?"

"W-well…" Ruby stuttered.

"Was revenge the only thing in Jaune's mind?"

"…" Ruby could not give a response.

"Jaune doesn't like the thrill of killing like you do Salem." Ozpin said.

"You have no right to talk Ozpin! Had you chosen me your sister instead of your so called "friends" none of this would have happened."

"Sister?" Everyone asked.

"You decided to choose the side of those who wanted me dead and the kingdom destroyed! Jaune… I helped my kingdom countless of times and not once did I ask for any gratitude. I told them about the coup and yet no one believed me because of this power I had obtained. I became something to be feared. My own people turned against me and Ozpin decided to lock me away, because he was too much of a coward to kill me, his little sister. Because of his mistakes I was the one who had to endure the pain of living in a world where I could not die. Do you know how awful it feels to be alone for centuries? However, this time I will make him feel how it's like to lose something by making him watch me destroy everything he ever loved and wipe out the corrupted people of this world."

"Salem that was a mistake that I wished I never made, but I am truly…"

"SHUT UP! NOTHING YOU SAY NOW WILL CHANGE WHAT I WILL DO!" Salem with blazing speed aimed for Ozpin, but was immediately stopped by the watcher who was able to stop her from proceeding any further. His long fire greatsword kept her weapon at bay.

"Get out of my way!" Salem yelled. Through the dark aura she manifested a double bladed sword and used it to cut the watcher from the side. However, the watcher used his dagger to stop the blade and in a quick spinning motion he used his sword to cut through Salem's abdomen. However, Salem's aura absorbed the attack and it only managed to push her away from the group. Before the watcher continued to his attack he had maintained his eyes on a different person among the group. He could sense another dark presence in the group besides Salem and Jaune and he immediately took action. He somersaulted over the group and directed his greatsword straight down on Blake who barely managed to move away from the devastating fiery attack.

"What was that for!?" Blake yelled when she jumped away.

"What are you doing!? She's with us!" Jaune yelled.

"I'm sorry Jaune, but I can no longer allow this to continue. The only reason we the legion decided not to kill you, is because the elder requested to avoid killing you. However this was only for you… not anybody else who show signs of having the dark and for this reason… it is my duty as an abyss watcher to put her down before she can spread it to others."

"She wouldn't! It's not going to happen!" Weiss yelled.

"You don't know that. Jaune… if you or your friends interfere with my work… I'll have no choice, but to kill them or you as well." The watcher made himself very clear that if anyone dares to stop him from doing his lifelong work, he wouldn't hesitate to kill them.

 _"_ _Damn! Not only do I have to worry about Salem, but now I have to worry about him killing my friends. I have no choice. I can't let any of them die."_ Jaune used his dark aura to create his black knight armor and rushed towards the Abyss Watcher, forcing him to back away from the group.

"Jaune!" Weiss exclaimed.

"We'll take care of the Watcher! You focus on Salem and stop her from leaving!"

"Right!" Jaune turned to Salem and readied his sword. Ozpin appeared next to Jaune, ready to aid him in his fight against Salem.

"Jaune… are you sure this is you want? I will ask you one more time to join me. I know that you still want to change this world for the better and I can help you along the way. Whether you like it or not you and I are reaching the same end together." Salem said.

"I already told you I want nothing to do with you. I'm not like you. Although my life is in disaster I do not despise this world for the sadness it brought me. I still see a glimmer of light, a glimmer of hope. Your crusade is going to end before it even starts."

"So that's your answer then? Fine." Salem placed her hand towards Jaune's direction and in an instant Jaune's eyes turned red and the black veins appeared on the side of his eyes. Jaune stopped and was unable to move his body.

"Wha… what did you d… do to me?" Jaune struggled to talk. He started to lose consciousness, but desperately tried to stay awake.

"You and I are connected Jaune. When I placed my hand on you, I felt something that I haven't felt in a long time. You felt it too didn't you? When we first came into contact? Come closer." Salem signaled the knight to come to her and he slowly walked to her, struggling to stop himself.

"Salem stop!" Ozpin yelled. In a second he appeared in front of Salem and was about to strike, but Salem knows how his brother fights and had no trouble pulling his weapon out of his hands and hitting him right in the chest and send him soaring away.

"That's right Jaune. Come closer. You and I will both make a better world, a world with the two of us."

"Sa…lem st…op." Ruby and the others noticed Jaune's abnormal movement and yelled out to him, but he could not respond. Ruby worried about what happened sped towards him, getting in front of him to prevent him from reaching Salem.

"Jaune! Snap out of it! Jaune! Jaune!" Ruby removed his mask and looked straight at his glowing red eyes.

"Jaune look at me!"

"Get out of his way!" Salem yelled. Before Ruby could react, Jaune swung his sword with a powerful force behind it nearly cutting through her aura. She went sliding to the side and couldn't do anything besides look at Jaune as he reached Salem.

"RUBY!" Her friends yelled. Ren and Nora rushed to Ruby's aid and helped her up.

 _"_ _No I didn't do it. I… I can't control myself. It's getting dark, so dark."_

"Jaune." Ruby said, reaching her arm out. Salem placed her hand on Jaune's cheek, caressing it as if the two have been lovers for years.

"Don't touch him!" Ruby yelled.

"Oh… and what are you going to do about it?" Salem asked.

"I'll…"

"You'll what?" Salem smirked and decided to upset the girl even further by pulling Jaune close to her face and kissing him on the lips. Ruby was revolted at the sight in front of her. Tears were streaming down her eyes filled with anger.

"Why you!" Ruby pushed Ren and Nora to the side and hastily went for Salem with Crescent Rose in her hand and yelled as she brought down her scythe towards her, intending to slice her head off.

"DIE!" As Ruby's scythe was mere inches away from Salem's neck, Jaune used his sword to stop the scythe's blade and allowed Salem to grab Ruby by the neck. Ruby was now gasping for air, kicking her legs back and forth in hopes that Salem will let go of her, but it was useless.

"*Gasp* Jaune *Gasp*"

"Nora! Hammer!" Ren yelled. Nora used her hammer to launch both her and Ren towards Salem and save Ruby. Ren kicked Salem across the face, while Nora grabbed hold of Ruby. Jaune swung his sword towards Ren who he used his guns' blades to stop it from hitting him.

"Come to your senses Jaune! You can't let yourself get controlled! You hear me!?" Jaune pushed Ren back with his sword and went for Ren's legs by performing a 360 degree spin that he had learned while sparring with the Abyss Watchers his first time there. Luckily, Ren was able to jump out of the way and regrouped with Nora and Ruby back with the others. The Abyss Watcher knew that he would need the help of Jaune's friends in order to bring down Salem and her newly found teammate. Even in his form that wouldn't be enough to take down someone who has lived in the abyss for a long time.

"Listen to me kids. I know I can't beat those two alone and I'm going to need all your help to stop them."

"We're going to stop them without killing Jaune." Ruby said.

"Are you insane? You nearly died because of him. What makes you think that he can be saved? If you don't attack with the intent to kill then saving this world is pointless."

"Ruby, whether you like it or not we have to attack without holding anything back. You know that."

"But I can't…"

"Ruby." Weiss said.

"I know how you feel right now. I never told you this, but I too have feelings for Jaune which I never wanted to discuss because of how you might feel."

"Then… then you should know why we can't kill Jaune! Imagine how you will feel… how I will feel if we kill him! I can't see myself without him!" Ruby said.

"You have time to decide what you're going to do Ruby. When the time comes where you need an answer, I can only hope that you will choose the right one." Weiss said. Blake looked at the watcher with a distasteful look and agreed to help him stop Salem. The others drew their weapons except Ruby who was still on the ground trying to decide what to do.

 _"_ _Jaune… what would you do if I were in your position? Would you be able to stop me even if it meant killing me or would you find a way to save me? I can't decide what to do because killing you would mean killing a part of me. You and I share a dream, a dream that most would say is unachievable yet you and I say otherwise. Unlike me your path is a difficult one, filled with hatred and despair and yet you continue moving forward. If I kill you it means killing my dream as well. It seems that I'm walking the same trail now. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of going there by myself. That's why I can't…"_

"Salem!" Blake yelled.

"You're outnumbered. You have no chance of beating us so I suggest you let Jaune go and return to the cave you crawled out of."

"So a newborn thinks she's better? Amusing." Salem chuckled. Blake doesn't know that Salem has all the help she is going to need. Next to Jaune and her appeared three black portals from the ground which summoned 3 armored humans. These humans like Jaune possessed the dark aura however each were different.

"What the heck is going on?" Blake asked. Like Jaune, Blake could sense their aura which sent a chill down her spine.

"Allow me to introduce to you the past dark users in history that sacrificed their well-being for the greater good just to be thrown out like an unwanted child." Each swordsman was different than the other. One in particular, was tall and heavy built who carried a massive greatsword that no other person would be capable of wielding it.

"We… we can't stop them." Blake said. She took one step back that made everyone else do the same.

"You have to be kidding right?" Nora asked.

"Their aura… they… they have a massive amount. We… we don't stand a chance." Sweat dripped down Blake's head. She couldn't remove her eyes off of them without thinking of the possibility of her or her friends getting cut down when they look away.

"These are the greatest swordsmen of the past that brought a more peaceful world that you all took for granted. However, their names were never remembered and their accomplishments were not spread around like those damn Maidens."

"That's the Abysswalker. The Wolf Knight." The Abyss watcher said.

"That's him!?" Ruby said. This knight unlike the others wore a silver armor that was corroded by the abyss leaving black rust all around it. The blue tattered cape he wore dripped with a black substance that can only be assumed to be a reaction of his black aura. The blue hood that covered his head shrouded his face in darkness, but the red glowing eyes are all that the fearful huntsmen and huntresses can see.

"You're right. This is indeed the same knight that threw me into the Mausoleum and locked me in there. He was looked as a menace to society and no one bothered understanding his feeling except his wolf companion. His own kingdom sent him to suicide missions that no ordinary man could accomplish, but he did and came back alive. It wasn't too long until the same kingdom he protected came under fire by the dark. When he was given the choice to save his kingdom Crona or his companion from the dark he ultimately chose his companion and left to rot alongside his kingdom."

 _"_ _He chose his friend over the kingdom."_ Ruby's mind wondered why he chose the wolf over his kingdom. Sure his people feared him and hated him, but are they to blame? They saw an unfamiliar power that they had no knowledge of that gave off an awful vibe that should be feared. This gave a form of comfort to Ruby that if Jaune was in her position, he would no doubt save her. Salem walked over to the next knight who was tall and heavily built. Standing 6'3" (190 cm) his armor was black and did not wear a helmet like the others. Like the others his eye glowed red, however is left eye was shut. One can only assume that he was missing an eye which could benefit the huntsmen and huntresses. His massive greatsword that no ordinary man can carry was the same height as him. No man alive would be able to lift such a sword that can easily cut through any Grimm in existence.

"This swordsman was once a feared among the world and was known to slay thousands of Grimm with ease. He managed to kill and trap every single Wyvern in existence with ease thanks to his sword that no other man is able to lift. Like the Wolf Knight many feared him and his power. He wandered Remnant continuing his lust for killing Grimm to ease his pain and sorrow and one day he became weak after killing thousands of Grimm that attempted to invade a kingdom, a kingdom that Ozpin is very familiar with. You should know the story Ozpin."

"What kingdom Ozpin?" Ren asked.

"The kingdom was Vale and in order to stop the invasion they called the Black Swordsman. He was the strongest silver eyed warrior during his time and he was the only one who was close by and able to take this mission, since most of the silver eyed warriors died during the Grim War. The kingdom was already weakened and they had little to no soldiers left to fight off the Grimm invasion, but he did. He marched towards the mountain slicing through every creature that stood in his way to reach the source of what was attracting and spawning the creatures of Grimm. It was a wyvern that was on top of the mountain and although tired and weakened, he managed to trap it inside the mountain itself. No one knows how exactly he did it, but when it was done he was cornered by the people he saved. The people of that time were afraid of how powerful he was and felt he could become a threat if he were to ever decide to attack the kingdom. They decided it would be best to kill him so they did and on that mountain it said that his greatsword still lay there which is the only memory left of him." Ozpin said.

 _"_ _Strongest silver eyed Warrior? Uncle Qrow told me about the silver eyed warrior some time ago. So that swordsman was one as well?"_

"And just like me he was betrayed and killed by the same people he protected. Do you see the problem Ozpin?" Salem asked. Ozpin could only remain quiet as she walked to the last dark user she had summoned. This one had black smoke lingering around him which gave off the feelings of anger, resentment, and fear. Like the other Black Swordsman, this knight had black armor that covered his entire body. However, this one carried a helmet with a slit in front of it where the knight would be able to see. A glowing red light shined through it which would make any other person frightened by it. Like the Wolf Knight, he too had a blue tassel at the end of his head which could mean that he was alive during the same century as the Wolf Knight.

"All of you can see the pattern right? However this one was much different than the others. He was respected by his people. However his affair with the king's queen caused a major problem in the kingdom which led to a civil war. They decided to execute the queen, but he wouldn't allow such a thing to happen so in order to save her… he had to kill his friends… his team. From this he awakened the dark and managed to set the person he loved free, however at a great cost." Salem said.

"They killed him." Ruby said.

"That's right. Did the punishment fit the crime? After all he has done for his kingdom, do you think death is the perfect punishment? Through the years I hoped that humanity would change their ways, but it has occurred to me that this world will not change unless someone can lead it to the right direction."

"So you want to lead it? Killing innocent people will not lead to anything better except pain and suffering." Weiss said.

"You may think so now, but after I'm done… this place will be much better than it was before. If you agree to follow me I will spare your lives… for Jaune's sake of course." Salem said as she walked next to Jaune.

"We definitely don't want to be led by someone like you who has no remorse in taking a person's life." Ruby said. Salem looked towards Jaune and placed her hand on his cheek.

"Well Jaune, I tried to save your friends, but it seems they don't want to be saved. I'll let you to deal with her. The rest of you can go ahead and show them why you were feared at your time." Jaune and the other black swordsmen's dark aura that they possessed grew and all four rushed towards Ruby's team. Ruby, from her side used crescent rose to stop Jaune's attack. Blake was in the Wolf Knight's line of sight and had to quickly take action. The knight did a somersault attack that had enough force behind it to shatter the ground. She used her semblance to get out of the way and left behind a black shadow that dissipated into the air after the attack followed through. From the corner of her eye she saw the Abyss Watcher spinning in with his dagger through the ground and using his momentum to slash at the Wolf Knight who had no trouble rolling away. The flame that followed behind the slash managed to singe his blue cape but only a little.

"Are you alright?" The Watcher asked.

"I'm fine, but we need to come up with a plan to…" Before Blake could finish her sentence the Wolf Knight threw the black sludge that was dripping off of him towards the two, but only managing to get the Watcher.

"What the!?" The watcher yelled. When Blake looked towards the Wolf Knight he was rushing towards the Watcher lunging forward and aiming his greatsword straight at the watcher's heart. Blake had to act fast and used her grappling hook to get a hold on the knight's foot. Although she managed to get his ankle, his strength was something that she could not match. He had no trouble pulling her towards him and decided to aim his sword at her. Again she used her semblance to escape the dangerous predicament she was in and left behind an explosive clone that blew up in front of the knight. The Knight however, placed his greatshield in front of him preventing him from getting damaged and badly burned by the explosion. Blake rushed in once more blocking the attacks with her Katana and slashing away at the shield and sword. The sword the Wolf Knight was wielding was something that could break her blade if she was not careful. Sparks flew as her blade made contact with the shield and sword. The Abyss Watcher took this opportunity to jump in the air and use his flame greatsword to get him from above. The Wolf Knight quickly rolled to the side avoiding the attack and Blake used her grappling hook to pull herself out of the way. Now the Watcher was in trouble. His sword was lodged into the ground leaving him open to an attack. The Wolf Knight charged his attack and went for an upward swing, launching the Watcher into the air and towards Blake. Although strength of the attack was immense, the Watcher was still able to stay up on his feet. Blake used a triple clone attack to land a hit on him without worrying about it being blocked. Two of the three attacks were deflected, but the third made its mark. That itself wasn't enough to slow down the knight. Blake jumped away avoiding a deadly swing from his sword that nearly landed on her neck and regrouped with the Watcher.

"Another 2 or 3 attacks and that will definitely be enough to kill me." The Abyss Watcher stated.

"We need to somehow stop him from using that greatshield of his. No matter how strong an attack is, the shield will simply absorb the impact. My Katana can slice through aura and if I can get clear sight of his arm, I might be able to swiftly slice it off, but I won't be able to do it with him swinging his sword." Blake stated. The Watcher looked down where one of his fellow Watchers was lying. It all came down to this and the Watcher knew what it was going to take in order for the Wolf knight to be occupied and unable to attack.

"I'm going to charge in and when I do look for the opening. It will be obvious when you see it." The Watcher said. Blake agreed and followed him behind as he kicked off the ground and jumped to the air. The Watcher slammed his sword on the knight, but again he rolled away. However this time the Watcher stabbed the ground and used it to pull out of the way from the Wolf Knight's counter attack. The Watcher then used his flame sword to slash at the knight to which he responded by jumping into the air to avoid the attack. The flames that followed behind the slash managed to get him and cause him to lose his balance. The Watcher quickly got up from the ground and used both his dagger and his greatsword to impede his movement. Blake from behind slashed at the knight, but was stopped by his greatsword. The Wolf knight was now pressing against the two, using his greatshield against the Abyss Watcher and using his Greatsword to avoid getting lacerated.

"…HRGGGGH!" A loud moan that slowly turned to a roar caught Blake and the Watcher's attention. The ground underneath them was covered by the dark smoky aura that started to swirl intensely around them. They immediately knew that they had to move out the way to avoid its devastating effects and when they did the dark entered inside the knight and immediately released a powerful force that sent the dead bodies around him away. The wolf knight was now more aggressive than he was before which made things even more difficult for the two.

"I have no other choice." The Watcher said.

"What are you planning?" Blake asked.

"I'm going to let him stab me and when he does I'll grab his arm and you make sure that you completely cut it off."

"Don't be stupid! That's going to kill you!"

"We don't have another choice! We the Watchers of the Abyss will do anything it takes to stop this from becoming a catastrophe. I'm already prepared to die for the people and my comrades. Follow behind and don't miss." The Abyss watcher sped towards the knight who did the same and the two swords clashed. Blake went for the rear and used her semblance to create a stone clone right when the knight swung his sword. The watcher swung his sword and was stopped by the greatshield and saw that the knight was about to stab him and just like he planned the knight drove his sword straight into the Watcher's stomach. As the knight attempted to pull his sword back, the Watcher dug his dagger into his arm, disallowing him to pull away and used his sword to thrust it towards the knight, but again was deflected by the knight's greatshield.

"NOW!" The Abyss Watcher yelled. From the side, Blake appeared and used her charged Katana to completely slice off the Wolf Knight's arm. The plan worked and now the knight was armless. Blake held onto the Watcher and jumped away from the danger.

" ***Cough* *Cough*** " The Watcher coughed out blood that was absorbed into his clothing. Blake removed the blade from his stomach that completely went through him. It didn't look good. He was losing blood fast and he wasn't going to make out of here alive.

"Can you still fight?" Blake asked.

"Of course I can ***Cough*** " The two looked towards the knight that was looking at where his arm would be. He looked towards the two and jumped towards them. Blake and the Watcher rolled away and it seemed as though the knight's target was his sword. He threw his shield to the side and picked up his sword. It seemed that the knight was intends to continue the fight using his weak arm.

"We can do this! He won't be as good with the sword as he was before! Let's use this to our advantage and take him out now!" Blake yelled. She rushed in believing that he would no longer be a threat to them, but it wasn't. He was still able to use his sword with his right proficiently but not as good as before. He used his sword to block the katana and push it to the side and swiftly perform a 360 spin attack that managed to hit Blake's legs and causing her to fall onto the ground. She rolled away hoping to get away from the somersault attack, but it was fruitless. The attack hit its target and Blake was struck right on her chest. She felt the pain run throughout her body and a jolt on her chest. The Watcher from behind ran towards the knight hoping to catch him off guard. Before he could realize what happened, the Wolf knight found himself in the same position he was before, the sword driven straight into him this time through his heart. Blake although in pain, crawled away from the Wolf knight. When she turned she witnessed the Watcher get impaled by the knight's sword. It was over for him. The knight picked up the Watcher with his sword and threw him towards Blake. She could see the iris from his eyes dilate and felt the fear building up inside her. She continued to crawl away from him and saw Ren slowly rising up with a sword in his hand. She turned back to the Wolf Knight and saw a bright red flash of light approaching them.

"BLAKE!" Someone yelled before she could see who it was she found herself next to Ren and the flash of red light swallowed everyone in proximity.

* * *

 **The Necessity to Win**

"Nora! We have to take this fight elsewhere. Ren, I need you to focus on the other Black Swordsman while Nora and I take this fight elsewhere. It's obvious his strength outmatches anyone here and it would be a huge mistake if we keep them together." Weiss commanded.

"Okay, but be careful you two. I'll make sure this one doesn't follow you." Ren said. Nora and Weiss started to run in the opposite direction while being trailed by the Ultra Greatsword user. Ren remained with the others and analyzed his foe in front of him. The Black Knight held a sword that looked somewhat similar to Jaune's however his was different in design. Ren pulled out his automatic pistols and engaged the knight. Ren's plan was to avoid fighting in close quarters and would be more beneficial to keep his distance to avoid getting attacked by the knight's sword. As he shot the knight dodged every round that approached him and sliced a few of them along the way. Ren ultimately knew that this cannot continue and needed to approach this in a different way. He came to the conclusion that the best course of action would be to somehow get a hold of his sword and make it impossible for him to use it. Using the sickle like blades underneath his automatic pistols he plans to use it to pull the sword off of his hands when he gets close enough to do it. Ren started running towards the Black knight's direction and just like that the plan was set in stone. The knight swung his sword allowing Ren to use the blades underneath his guns to stop the sword in its tracks. He flipped one of the guns in order to be able to use the sickle like blade to pull the sword near the hilt off of the knight's hands and it worked. He managed to pull the sword out of his hands and drop onto the floor. He quickly kicked the sword away from the two launching it deep into the forest. Ren jumped away from the knight and this time felt comfortable about the situation. The knight stood there not moving a muscle which made Ren feel even more at ease, but before Ren could react, the knight lunged forward and leaped towards Ren with his fist in front of him and punched Ren right in the forehead. The force behind the attack nearly sent Ren flying into the air. Ren landed back on his feet and clutched his weapon.

 _"_ _So he isn't a simple swordsman. He knows how to fight with his fists as well. I'm going to need to be extremely careful."_ Ren took a deep breath and exhaled. He cleared his mind, removing any outside noise that would distract him, removing any thought that would worry him. When he opened his eyes he saw the knight rushing towards swing his fist to the right of Ren. Ren spun and kicked the punch away. The knight went for a roundhouse kick of his own using Ren's kick as a momentum to spin and do the same exact thing. Ren used his arm to stop the kick from hitting him across the face and performed a 360 degree spin and kick the back of the knight's heel to trip him over and cause him to fall on the ground. He then quickly used his automatic pistols to shoot at the armored knight, but the knight hastily rolled to the side avoiding the rounds. Ren put away his pistols and leaped into the air and place his palm onto the ground as he came falling down to the knight. The ground underneath the Knight crumbled and Ren quickly leaped away again. He carefully observed the knight, hoping that the knight would show any sign of injury, however it seemed the hit barely made a dent. The knight had no problem getting back onto his feet and again he was rushing towards Ren. This time the knight jumped in the air and formed a fist with his right hand and slammed it down on Ren. Ren however, managed jump away, but the knight managed to recover quickly and continued his assault. Ren dodged, rolled, and jumped away from the barrage of attacks that came towards him, but that wasn't enough to give him the upper-hand of the fight. A knee to Ren's stomach finally connected after a small period of avoiding the attacks. The knee pushed Ren's body off the ground and in mid-flight the knight swung his fist. All Ren can do at that moment was to stare at the impending punch. It sent him soaring towards a tree causing the tree itself to break in half. The pain in the stomach was so intense that it felt as if it was spreading to the rest of his body. Ren struggling to get air inside him allowed the Knight to take the time to look for his blade. He managed to quickly find it and walked towards Ren who was still coping with the pain. Ren noticed the sword coming down on him so he quickly moved to the side and kicked the knight onto his stomach. Ren pulled out his bladed pistol and attempted to stab the knight who was facing the ground. The knight managed to elbow Ren's hand and push the blade away from him and kick Ren off of him. Ren flipped away and rushed towards the knight as he got back up from the ground and used the palm of his hand to unleash a powerful shockwave into his body that could keep him stunned, long enough to allow Ren to kill him. The knight spun as the palm slid past by him and elbowed Ren right on his shoulder, breaking it. Ren now on the ground looked at the knight as he used his sword to stab Ren right on his chest.

 _"_ _I can't let him harm my friends… my team. Jaune, I wish I could have been there with you to protect Pyrrha, but the only thing I can do to right now is stop him."_ Ren barely managed to move his body, but the elbow to the shoulder left him a painful feeling and unable to use his left arm. Ren used his automatic pistol to shoot several rounds to the knight's chest, making him jump away from Ren. Sweat dripped from his head, his heart can be heard pounding through his ears, and the taste of blood fresh in his mouth. He felt slightly annoyed that his outfit that he usually kept clean was ruined, but he knows now's not the perfect time to be complaining. Ren pulled the blade out of his left arm and held it with his right.

"I've never been the sword type… but I guess now would be a great time to learn how to use it." Ren ran towards the Black Knight with the black sword in his hand. He let out a loud roar as he sprinted towards the knight. Instead of running, the knight ran towards him, aiming to take his sword back and finishing Ren. The two collided and with every bit of strength Ren swung the sword, but just missed his target. However, Ren anticipated that the knight would try to grab the sword from him so he abruptly stopped and stabbed the sword to the ground, allowing him to stop his momentum and at the right moment he kicked the knight's arm as he reached for the weapon. He was now open for an attack and Ren took advantage of it.

 _"_ _NOW!"_ Ren quickly pulled the sword out of the ground and attempted to ram the sword into the Black Knight's chest, but before he could get off the ground, he noticed a bright red flash of light approaching them. He heard someone yell out to Blake and when he blinked, Blake was next to him.

* * *

 **The Favorable and Unfavorable**

"Weiss I think this is far enough!" Nora yelled. Weiss agreed and stopped. She drew her rapier, whereas Nora remained on top of a tree branch to ambush the unsuspecting Black Swordsman who approached Weiss. As the swordsman walked closer to Weiss, Nora jumped off the branch and slammed her hammer at the man at full strength. To Nora's surprise, the swordsman used his massive greatsword to block the incoming attack and when it connected the floor underneath them crumbled and the air pushed Weiss several feet away. The leaves around them rustled intensely and Nora shocked at the sight that even with the grenade detonating on impact did not cause the man to falter or show a sign of distress. Before she could move, the man hurled Nora towards Weiss using his sword. Nora crashed into Weiss and the two were on the ground preparing for their attack.

"I've never seen a person that size capable of carrying a sword that massive and addition to that be able to carry someone on it and hurl them. We need to be careful Nora. A blade that massive and a person that strong will have no problem cutting through aura."

"Got it. We just have to be quicker than his attacks. Do you have your glyphs ready?"

"No. We have to execute that when he least expects it. The last thing we need is for him to find out that we have something like this in our sleeves. I'll distract him. You go ahead and try to get him when he leaves himself open."

"Right!" Weiss went in first and barely managed to avoid the enemy's slash attack that was faster than she initially expected. She used the red dust to expel flames from her rapier to torch the swordsman before he was able to attack again, but as the flames appeared it hardly affected him. He used his black cape to protect himself and it worked. The cape must be made of a material that is completely fireproof. However, while he was concerned about the flames, Nora took the opportunity to strike with her hammer, but the outcome remained the same. Nora quickly detonated the grenade upon impact to launch herself away from the man to avoid getting struck by the greatsword. She switched to yellow dust in order to paralyze him for a short time in order to allow Nora to attack. Weiss used her Glyph to catapult herself to the man and aimed her rapier straight at his neck. The man's aura shielded him from being seriously wounded, but the lighting effects paralyzed him for a few seconds.

"NOW!" Weiss yelled. She catapulted Nora towards the swordsman. Nora's hammer smashed down on him detonating a grenade upon impact and shattering the ground. An attack like this will surely wound him. Nora jumped away and watched as the smoke cleared in front of them. When it was cleared they were able to see the swordsman pick himself back up with his weapon resting on his shoulder. It did absolutely nothing. It didn't leave any visible damage on him. Weiss had no choice but to use her summoning in order to stand a chance against a man of his caliber. She asked Nora to protect her as she started the summoning, but the swordsman wouldn't let it happen. He sped towards them slashing away at the two huntresses. The man managed to slightly connect his attack on Nora and although the entire blade did not connect, the edge of it did. Even though Nora had her aura, the brute strength managed to completely slice through it and left a deep cut in Nora's rib. Weiss had to quickly complete the summoning or else the two of them would be finished. The swordsman rushed towards Weiss who managed to partially complete her summoning. The hand and arm of the giant white knight managed to stop the black swordsman's giant greatsword before it could split Weiss in half. Although the attack was stopped, the black swordsman still had plenty of strength to use against it and forced its way towards Weiss, however Nora who was injured, jumped into action and used her hammer to send the man soaring into the air, crashing through the trees of the forest.

"Nora are you fine!?" Weiss asked.

"I'm fine. It's just a cut. Nothing that I can't handle." Nora said, slightly smiling, but it was obvious that she was in pain.

 _"_ _The wound looks serious. I have to end this quickly or else Nora will bleed out, but even if by some miracle I manage to beat that swordsman… I would still have to deal with the others."_ Weiss finally completed the summoning and the giant white knight appeared in front of them.

 _"_ _The white knight was 4 times the size of the black swordsman so surely it will be enough to beat him"._ Weiss, with this thought in her head ordered the knight to attack the swordsman. The black swordsman appeared out of the forest and sprinted towards the giant white knight without even hesitating. The white knight placed his shield in front of him, preparing for the assault.

"RAAAGH!" The black swordsman yelled, striking his greatsword at the knight's greatshield. Weiss was shock to see that the swordsman was able to push the knight back, nearly hitting Weiss and Nora.

"How strong is this guy!?" Nora yelled. The white knight retaliated and used his sword in a cutting motion to strike down the defenseless swordsman as he was struggling to overpower the knight's shield. A frightful scene unfolded when the white knight's sword came crashing down. The black swordsman used his left hand to stop the sword from cutting him down. The sword should have split his hand and cut him down into two halves, but for some unexplainable reason, he was able to catch the blade. When Weiss took a closer look, she saw black aura seeping out of him and the black armor he wore started to vibrate. The black aura then formed a wolf like helm that covered his entire head. The white knight couldn't overpower the swordsman and was having trouble pulling his sword out of the man's hand. The swordsman raised his head and looked at the white knight with his glowing red eyes shining through the holes of the helm. The swordsmen then pushed the sword to the side and used both of his hands to grip the handle of his massive greatsword and slice off the white knight's arm entirely.

"HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!?" Weiss yelled. Nora was petrified, unable to talk or even think straight. Weiss looked at her and commanded her to run back to the others and call for help, but she didn't move a muscle.

"NORA!" Weiss yelled.

"…" Still no response. When Weiss looked back at the battle, the Black Swordsman had just sliced the white knight in half and now had his eyes set on her. He slowly approached the frightened girl. Knowing that she wouldn't dare to attack let alone run away.

 _"_ _He's walking towards me. I need to move."_ Weiss looked down on her legs and noticed that she wasn't able to move either. Was it from the fear or was it something entirely different? She would be lying if she said that she wasn't afraid of the man, but who could blame her? This man was a warrior who slayed hundreds if not thousands of Grimm that are at least 50x times larger than he is. Compared to him she felt as though she was a little hopeless child. Weiss shut her eyes and hoped that this was just a nightmare. She hoped that this was simply a long nightmare that will simply go away if she pictured something else.

 _"_ _This can't be real. This can't be happening… What am I going to do? I can still hear his footsteps getting closer… louder. I knew the risks of becoming a huntress, but I never thought it would get this extreme. Am I even cut out for it? Here I am unable to move to help a friend in need or to even save my own skin. What kind of Huntress am I? What… what would Jaune do!?"_ Before the swordsman could finish the battle, he saw a blinding flash of light approaching them and before the light could consume Nora and Weiss, the White Knight that Weiss had summoned managed to crawl towards them and shield them from it. The light swallowed the three and continued to grow even bigger in size.

* * *

 **Unvanquished Yellow Flame**

Rhett with great speed slashed at his opponent. Although Jay was somewhat worn out from the earlier battle against Yang still had enough strength and stamina left to take on someone else.

"How about I break you apart once more? For the fun of it?" Rhett asked Jay as continued his barrage of attacks.

"You aren't going to spread more pain and suffering to other people anymore. I'll make sure of that." Jay grabbed both of Rhett's hands, preventing the curved daggers from puncturing him. Rhett gave a sinister smile Jay and this made Jay turn his head to the left. Raven sprinted towards him with her Katana by her side.

 _"_ _I'll just use my…"_ Jay felt a stinging sensation in his chest. Rhett had propelled a dart that immediately paralyzes the victim upon impact. The dart had been shot out of the hilt of the dagger which is something that Jay wouldn't expect to happen.

 _"_ _DAMN!"_ As the blade came down, a pair of shotgun gauntlets blocked the blade from harming Jay. It was Yang who was able to stop it before things went ugly.

"Yang, don't interfere." Revan said.

"If anyone is going to stop Jay… it's going to be me." Yang said. She knocked the Katana to the side and kicked Raven away to focus her next attack to Rhett. She shot several explosive rounds sending Rhett flying away. She turned to look at Jay who was still trying to regain control of his body.

"Why help me?" Jay asked.

"Although I can't stand to look at you, we are still going to need your help, even if it means using you as a meat shield." Yang stated. She turned to Raven and prepared to go on the offensive.

"We're on the same team Yang. I want to help you not fight you."

"I don't consider sending me into a wild goose chase helping. I was a fool to believe that you actually wanted to act like an actual mother and not as a complete stranger. You lied to me, your daughter and for what?"

"I wanted what…"

"What? What's best for me? How the hell is this better for me? Salem is going to kill thousands of innocent people and that is something I can't allow."

"You haven't seen what I have encountered. You need to understand that not everyone is completely innocent. There are people who used others for their own benefits while that person gets nothing but torment and sorrow. I can say with certainty that Salem aims to make this world a better place."

"Yet here you are working with a sadistic man to get what you want and on top of that you went all the way to use me… your daughter." Raven didn't have a response to that.

"So you'd rather help that man rather than me your real mother?"

"You're not my mother. My mother… Summer died a long time ago!" Yang fired two shots behind her to propel her towards Raven. She swung her fist missing Raven's face but swung again this time hitting her blade. Raven spun and slashed at her feet which Yang responded by jumping into the air and kicking Raven in the chin. Raven avoided it by flipping backwards and countering it with lunging forward and attempting to stab Yang in the stomach. Angry, Yang simply punched the blade to the ground and using her left fist to uppercut Raven and with every punch comes dust rounds that increases her damage output. Raven flew several feet into the air and when she came falling down Yang punched again, this time with a bright yellow flame that surrounded her fists. She looked to the side and noticed Rhett rushing towards her with his daggers tightly grasped in both hands. She was aware about the projectiles that fired from the hilt so she was extra careful when grabbing his arms. When Rhett lunged forward, she used her left hand to grab and pull his arm to the opposite side and pivoted around him to kick him behind the leg sustaining his weight. Rhett fell to the ground, his hand and arm being twisted by Yang. She placed her foot on his shoulder and broke his arm and wrist. She looked back at Jay, noticing that he regained control of his body and ready to aid Yang, but that wasn't necessary since she was taking care of herself well. When she turned to Raven's direction, the blade of her Katana managed to hit Yang. However, it wasn't enough to cut through her aura that was shielding her. Yang jumped away, measured Raven. Both sides circling each other, attempting to find an opening or planning a counter attack. It was Yang who attacked first by sending several rounds towards Raven. She responded by slicing each dust propelled rounds into two. As she ran towards Yang, she continued splitting each round in half and Yang did not bother changing her tactics. When she came face to face with Yang, Yang swung her fist, hoping to get a hit on her but instead was parried by her Katana. In rapid succession, she slashed away at Yang making sure she wouldn't have time to counter attack. From behind, Jay kicked off the ground and made his way towards Raven.

 _"_ _I only have 3 bullets left for Baltic Sea. I can't use it carelessly. However…"_ Jay pulled his sigil engraved knife and gripped it tightly as he lacerated Raven across her back. He quickly moved the knife to his left hand in order to quickly turn and stab Raven on the neck. Although she was wounded, she still managed to deflect the attack. Jay used his semblance to go completely through her and surprise her with a punch from behind, but she was aware of Jay's semblance and anticipated he would do something like this. When he went through her she spun and slashed him across the stomach. With Jay low on aura she managed to slightly leave a cut across his stomach, but it wasn't a serious wound. When she tried to strike him once more, Jay used his knife to stop the attack and punch her right in the gut and send her sliding away.

"It's best if we took her on at the same time." Jay said.

"I don't need your help." Yang rushed towards Raven firing several rounds towards her. She slashed towards the air and created the dark red portal that she uses to move around from place to place. The explosive rounds went through it and another red portal appeared behind Jay. The explosive rounds hit Jay and he was sent sliding away.

"Dammit!" Yang yelled. Jay badly hurt, wasted no time lying on the ground. He got back to his feet enduring the pain that was brought to him.

"That's why we should work together Yang!"

"Shut up! I don't need your help!" Yang continued her assault. Jay upset by her statement rushed towards her. Jay jumped in the air and slammed his fist to the ground where Raven was standing. Had she not moved out of the way she would have been crushed. The debris scattered around Yang, obscuring her vision. She accidentally shot at Jay, however he barely managed to jump out of the way.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Yang yelled.

"I don't what you have to say. Whether you like it or not I'm going to help. The last thing I need is for you to get yourself killed and lose our chance of stopping these people." Raven rushed towards Jay switching her dust to ice. She swung her blade when Jay wasn't focused on her and the blue colored dust froze his right leg. Jay was now unable to jump away and avoid any attacks that will come towards him from Raven. She swung her katana swiftly landing several hits all across his body. Yang stopped her blade before she could deliver the finishing blow. Her gauntlets stopped the blade and now Raven was open for an attack. Yang punched her in the stomach and sent her soaring towards the air. Jay punched the ice, breaking it into two and allowing full movement of his leg again. Although he was bleeding from the numerous cuts left behind by Raven, he was still able to fight. Raven got back to her feet and switched her dust. This time it was a red and slashed into the air sending a fiery crescent attack that was coming towards Jay's way. Yang jumped towards Jay and pulled him out of harm's way. Raven sliced into the air creating the red portal again and jumped inside. She appeared behind Yang and was ready to pull her out of the way to finally kill Jay… but when she did Jay unleashed a powerful kick. Once again she was sent hurling through the air.

"YANG NOW!" Jay yelled. Yang quickly got up and both launched themselves towards Raven with their fists forward

"AAAAHHHH!" Yang and Jay yelled in unison. Their fists were shrouded in blue and yellow aura as well as a flame. The power behind the attack created a massive wind current behind it. Raven used her arms to shield her body and focus all her aura to her arms to shield her, but that wasn't enough to protect her. Her aura was immediately depleted and the force behind the attack shattered the bones of her arms and body. She was sent soaring towards the Mausoleum completely cracking the exterior. Jay fell to the ground grasping his left fist. Unlike Yang who wasn't hurt by her own attack, Jay was. It seems as though Yang was holding back on her attack. Yang and Jay walked towards Raven. She was coughing large amounts of blood and it would seem that she isn't going to make it out of her alive.

"Yang… I understand that no matter what I say… it will not change the way you look at me, but I honestly believe that what I did was for the good of the world." Raven stated.

"How… how exactly does that help?"

"There are more evil than there are good. There aren't enough… Huntsmen and Huntresses in the world to stop the horrible acts that are done to the innocent ***cough* *cough* *cough***. With Salem's powers she would be able to persuade many people to aid her in creating this new world concept. Uniting all the kingdoms under one rule so that war, hate, segregation, and discrimination will ***cough* *cough*** be forgotten. I felt that this would be better for everyone… especially for you."

"But killing people for this is something that Ruby and I can't follow."

"You know very well that killing is a routine job for a Huntress when facing something that will threaten lives. It's only a matter of time until Ruby understands this as well." Raven said. Jay pulled out his single shot pistol and aimed it at Raven's head. Yang slapped his hand, preventing him from aiming at her biological mother.

"What do you think you're doing!?" Yang yelled.

"Doing my job." Jay said.

"And what exactly is your job? Being a ruthless killer?"

"…"

"If you ever do that again I won't hesitate to kill you myself." Yang said. Her eyes crimson red just like Raven's.

"Do you honestly think that people will follow from the goodness of their hearts?" Rhett asked. He was having trouble standing up with a broken arm. He got off the floor and looked at the three.

"No matter who they are, they will only follow the leader because it will benefit them personally. They can care less about other person next them and I learned that the hard way. They hide their true self until moments before their deaths or when they no longer need that person for their own personal gain. A world united… that's just a child's dream. There can never be solidarity." Rhett's body started to glow intensely and the gravity around him pulled everything from a 15 meter distance (50 feet) including Yang, Jay, and Raven.

"How the hell!?" Yang yelled. She used her strength to hold onto Raven whereas Jay stabbed his knife to the ground to prevent him from getting sucked into Rhett.

"I've been saving this for a rainy day! I wanted to do this in the kingdom, but it seems I'll be doing it here!" Rhett yelled.

"What the hell are you doing Rhett!?" Jay yelled.

"I'm going to detonate myself! This is my semblance! When I learned to use my semblance, I was able to release my aura and destroy everything from a 2 kilometer radius! That left my body in a temporary paralyzed state as well as 2nd degree burns all over my body and now I will unleash hell on this forest. This will disintegrate any living thing that contains a decent amount of aura and will cover 20 kilometers! There's absolutely no possible way to outrun this!

 _"_ _He's insane!"_ Yang turned to Raven.

"Yang, grab my blade and cut through the air and walk inside it. I want you safe you understand me!?" Raven yelled. The air around them was now pulling more aggressively.

"I can't leave everyone here! I need to save Ruby and the others!"

"Yang, I have just enough aura to make you and three others intangible for just a short amount of time! Let go of Raven and let's head towards the others!" Jay yelled.

"I… I can't just do that! I can only pull one of you! I can't simply let her die!"

"Yang." Raven said.

"Let go. Save your friends, be the big sister you always been. Look over your friends and protect them. That was something that I stopped doing long ago. Had I returned… maybe I… maybe I could have been able to save Summer."

"What?" Yang quietly said.

"This is the only way I can do to fix my mistakes, to atone my sins." Raven let go of Yang's hand and was sucked close into Rhett. She was locked in place, a few feet away from him.

"Raven!" Yang yelled.

"Yang, we need to go now!" Jay yelled. She shut her eyes and pulled Jay close to her, ready to climb inside the dark red portal.

"There's no way to escape! Now cry as you witness your last moments here on Remnant! Show your true colors and reveal what you truly are!" That was Rhett's final words as his entire body turned to a bright red wine color state.

Jay and Yang entered inside the portal and the bright light started to spread. It swallowed everything near it and continued to grow. This bright light brightened up the night sky. One might even say that this light could be seen throughout the kingdoms. The red shattered moon blended in with the color and the water around remnant turned into a red blood state. Although this was only for a brief moment, it was enough to put the entire population into a state of fear. The light never reached the cities, but many people witnessed the blinding flash of light from the comfort of their homes. In a way, Rhett managed to reveal each person's true colors.

* * *

 **Timeless Hatred**

"This is your final warning. If you don't stand aside, I will make sure that Jaune will kill you slowly and painfully." Ruby wasn't afraid of Salem, but was afraid of losing Jaune. She has turned him against his own comrades, his own friends. The people he wished to protect were now targets.

"Ruby… stand aside." Ozpin said.

"I know you don't want to hurt Mr. Arc, but in order to stop Salem I'm going to need to stop Jaune whatever means. I can't hold back and if I have to kill him I will. This happened because of me. I can't let any of you get involved." Ozpin sped towards Jaune, appearing in front in a second and in rapid succession managed to land several hits on him. Jaune however, powered through the attacks and swung his sword at Ozpin and missed. Ozpin appeared behind Jaune and his cane turned to a sharp blade.

"Ozpin wait!" Ruby yelled. Jaune quickly turned and used his hand to clutch the blade to prevent it from striking him in the face. He then used his sword to slash upward causing Ozpin to let go of his cane and take defensive measures. When he backed away, Salem rushed him and used her double bladed staff to cut Ozpin into ribbons, but was stopped by Ruby. Her scythe barely managed to reach the enemy's blade before it struck Ozpin.

 _"_ _I don't want to kill Jaune. I can't bring myself to do it. The only thing I can and will only do is save him!"_ Ruby spun around using her scythe to cut Salem in half. Salem managed to stop the curved blade and countered by using her opposite blade to attack her defenseless face. Ruby used the end of her scythe to stop the blade. The metallic material was strong enough to withstand the sharpness of the weapon. Jaune rushed Ozpin and dual wielded his cane and sword to cut Ozpin down, but with Ozpin's speed it was difficult to do so. It was then when Ozpin surrounded himself with a powerful green sphere shield that stunned Jaune when he attacked. He was thrown from the sphere and fell to the ground. Ozpin had the edge in the fight now. Jaune was unable to pull Ozpin's weapon away from his grasps using his semblance. The only thing that will help him against the agile opponent is to catch him with an unexpected attack. Jaune jumped forward and slashed at his opponent. Ozpin dodged to the side and thrusted his cane several times at Jaune's body. Jaune tanked the attacks and slashed again at Ozpin. Ozpin had no problem avoiding the attack by moving behind Jaune instantly with his speed. Jaune anticipated this and conjured up flames underneath Ozpin. However, Ozpin used his shield to cover himself from the inferno and it took most of his aura to simply protect him. Jaune noticed the bubble shield flickering on and off and saw the opportunity that he was aiming for. He threw his sword at Ozpin with great precision. Ozpin reacted quickly and moved his head to the side nearly having his face impaled by the blade. Jaune smirked and used his polarity to flip the sword around and come back to Ozpin. There is no way he would notice this attack. Before the blade could impale Ozpin, pedals flew by and deflected the attack. Jaune turned to see that Ruby managed to deflect the attack. From behind Ruby came Salem. Annoyed by Ruby's speed she changed her tactics. The double bladed staff split apart and turned into two curved swords.

"Try escaping this!" She yelled. A barrage of attacks was unleashed on Ruby. She could barely keep up with Salem and her semblance narrowly keeps her from getting struck. Ruby knew she couldn't do this by herself. She needed help, but the only help she had at the moment was Ozpin and he is having a hard time dealing with Jaune. Jaune's sword returned to the owner's side and again was ready to go on the offensive. He stored up a large amount of dark aura into his sword. Ozpin and Ruby will have to do something quick in order to avoid the devastating damage that it will unleash. Ruby switched opponents and rushed towards Jaune, jumping on top of him causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground. She used her hands to prevent Jaune from attacking her.

"Jaune, you need to fight it! You can't let Salem control you like this!"

"…" No response. He started to become more aggressive towards her and attempted to get her clutches off of him.

"She is trying to make you hurt your team! She's trying to make you kill me! Are you just going to let it happen!?" Ruby yelled.

 _"_ _I'm trying Ruby, I'm trying!"_ Jaune tried his best to take back control of his body. He can't allow his friends to die. Looking at Ruby's worried eyes empowered him to go even further. Remove all stops and used every ounce of strength, every last drop of will power he had left to take back what was rightfully his.

 _"_ _SSAAAALEEEEM!"_ His aura pushed Ruby off of him. Her scythe tossed away from her. Salem saw her defenseless and smiled.

"If you want to protect her then is suggest you dot it… NOW!" Salem sped towards Ruby combing both her blades and returning it into a double bladed staff.

"Salem stop!" Jaune yelled. His body moved in front of Ruby, shielding her from the attack and as the weapon was about to strike him Ozpin appeared in front of him and took the attack. The blade went through Ozpin and nearly pierced Jaune.

"What? How?" Salem asked. She couldn't believe that Jaune managed to move his body with her controlling him.

"Well I guess it can't be helped. She walked towards Ozpin and pulled her weapon out of him, leaving a hole in his body.

"Jaune… Ruby… I'll leave everything up to you both. I know neither one of you will make the… same mistakes I did." Ozpin said, letting out one last smile.

"I'll be doing what you should have done a long time ago and unlike you I won't make the same mistake." Salem slashed once more, this time across Ozpin's neck.

"OZPIN!" Ruby yelled. He fell onto the ground and now all that was left for Salem to kill was Ruby.

"Ruby, listen to me." Jaune said quietly. He whispered to her a plan and expects her to follow through with it.

"I didn't expect you to be able to regain some control of your body back Jaune. I'm impressed." Salem said.

"I won't let you hurt my friends." Jaune said.

"I don't expect you to understand my motives, but in time you will come to understand. I won't kill you, but you are being a bother right now so I'll just have to slow you down for the meantime." Salem thrusted the blade into Jaune.

"JAUNE!" Ruby yelled. She saw the blade pierce through the side of his stomach.

"RUBY NOW!" Jaune used his semblance to retrieve Ruby's scythe and return it to her. She quickly shot several shots at Salem that pushed her away from Jaune.

"I'm going to make you pay for that you little…" Before Salem could finish her sentence, a bright red light appeared behind her. She turned to see the light quickly expanding and coming towards their way.

"Ruby!" A yell was heard near her. It was Yang and Jay who had appeared out of the red portal.

"That's…" Salem said.

"What's going on!? Ruby yelled.

"There's no time to explain! Use your speed to get Blake and get her close to Ren now!"

"But…"

"NOW RUBY!" Yang yelled. Her eyes still filled with anger.

"Jay hold on." Yang commanded.

"Right." Jay used his right arm to wrap himself around her. She used her shotgun gauntlets to launch her towards Ren. His clothes was ripped and looked as if it were in tatters.

"Jaune let's go!" Ruby said.

 _"_ _I have to focus my concentration more on Jaune than the other swordsmen. It's risky, but it's the only option I have left to survive."_ Salem thought. Jaune felt himself losing control once more.

"Ruby I can't control my body any longer. Go without me now! I'll be fine!" Jaune yelled.

"Jaune I can't…"

"STOP BEING A SPOILED BRAT AND GO! Please." Ruby had no choice but to do what he asked. His body was again controlled by Salem. He jumped towards Salem's side with her weapon still impaled. He used every ounce of aura he had to create a massive black hole he had once created during the fight against Cinder.

"Ruby?" Blake said. She noticed her eyes dripping with tears and gritting her teeth. Ruby pulled her towards Ren where he and the others were.

"Where's Weiss!?" Ruby asked.

"Where's Nora and Ozpin!?" Ren asked.

"I don't know I thought they were with you!" Yang yelled.

"Hurry up and hold on to each other!" Jay yelled.

"We can't do this without Weiss and Nora!" Ren and Ruby yelled.

"There's no time! Do it now!" Jay yelled. Ren and Ruby bit the bullet and did what they were told. They placed their hands onto each other. Yang placed her hand on Jay's back.

 _"_ _This is going to take all of my strength and aura to do. I don't have any flasks of aura left. I hope this won't go to waste."_ Jay used his semblance to make everyone with him intangible. The bright flash of light swallowed them and continued to expand. The white knight that was cut into two pulled itself towards Weiss and Nora and shielded them from the blast. After several seconds later the bright light dissipated and everything went quiet. No woodland creature can be heard and the fires that surrounded them were extinguished, however embers were still left. The structures around Ruby and the others collapsed to the ground. The swordsman that Ren was fighting was disintegrated. The Wolf Knight had picked up his shield and created a bubble barrier similar to Ozpin's except his was blue and was released through his greatshield.

"Huh?" Weiss said. She looked at the white knight that shielded the two from the blast and in a second faded away into the wind. Nora and Weiss got up from the ground and noticed the tall Black Swordsman holding still. The entire armor was charred and it looked empty in the inside, almost as if it were a statue. Weiss took this time to cut a piece of her skirt off to use it as a bandage to stop Nora's wound from continuing to bleed.

"Do you think he's dead?" Nora asked.

"I'm positive. There's no way anybody could survive that."

"Wait… the others!" Weiss exclaimed. Weiss quickly helped Nora up and walked towards her team's direction. From behind they could hear the sounds of crumbling. When they turned they saw that the black swordsman was struggling to move. It seemed as though the blast did not kill him and now seemed angrier than before. His eyes started to glow even more intensely and his body started shaking violently as if attempting to regain complete control over his body.

"We need to run to the others now!" Weiss grabbed hold of Nora and rushed towards the others not looking back at the terrifying scene of the swordsman waking back up.

"Rrrr….RRRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

 **Thanks once again for reading this chapter and following or favoriting it. I know I take way too long doing these, but I prefer to make these chapters when I'm in the mood for them. The last thing I want is to make a chapter which is a total disaster which is what I've been probably doing to some of you, but to those who still enjoy them even a little thank you for sticking with it and I hope you have a wonderful day.**

 **The next chapter will be called "Whirlpool of Emotions"**


	30. Chapter 30 - Whirlpool of Emotions

**Chapter 30 – Whirlpool of Emotions**

 ***Here's a friendly reminder that this chapter may be controversial and if you are prone to irritation I suggest you don't read this, but other than that have fun.**

Jay collapsed onto the ground. He exhausted his last remaining aura on the rest of the team. Everyone opened their eyes and looked at the destruction caused by the blast. Ren quickly helped Jay back up on his feet.

"Damn it. That took a lot more of my energy than I had expected. Is everyone alright?" Jay asked.

"We're fine. Just what the heck was that just now?" Ruby asked.

"That sadistic bastard Rhett detonated himself." Yang responded.

"Wait what? How was that possible? How did he even manage to create a blast that massive?"

"It had something… to do with his semblance and the amount of aura he had." Jay responded as he struggled with the pain he had to endure from overusing his semblance.

"We can't waste time here. We need to go and look for Nora and Weiss. They might need our help." Blake said.

"We need to make sure that blast killed Salem first. The last thing we need is for her to slip away when she is close from being defeated." Jay stated.

"Forget about that. Our friends come first." Ren said.

"I know how bad you want to look for Nora, but if we don't take care of this first there is no telling what might happen if Salem did survive the blast. She can slip away and cause mayhem when she reaches the kingdoms." Ren scowled and Jay and followed his command. They walked over to Salem's last location where Ruby and Ozpin were last seen fighting against Jaune and Salem. There was no body to be found. Ozpin's body must have been disintegrated from the blast moments ago.

"Do any of you where Professor Ozpin went?" Blake asked.

"He… he was killed by Salem." Ruby said.

"What? Are you sure?" Jay asked.

"Yeah… I saw Salem… kill him in front of us." Ruby broke down in tears, but continued to look around for Jaune. From the forest they could hear a loud roar that sent a chill down their spine.

"D…Did one of them survive?" Blake asked. Before someone could answer her, they heard the sounds of movement underneath a pile of rubble. From underneath appeared Salem. She threw the debris off of her and stood on both of her feet. She did not seem injured or exhausted. The protection that she was given from Jaune benefited her greatly. However Jaune could not be seen.

"How the hell are you still alive!?" Yang yelled.

"If it wasn't for Jaune… I would have died in that blast." Salem stated.

"Where is he!? Where's Jaune!?" Ruby yelled. The sounds of groaning could be heard near them. To their left side were trees that collapsed to the ground and were broken into pieces. From underneath they could see Jaune impaled by two swords, Salem's blade as well as his own sword Crocea Mors. The massive explosion was far too great for Jaune that he was sent soaring away and slammed against a few trees that broke into pieces.

"Jaune!" Ruby yelled. She rushed sped towards him, but was stopped by Salem. She had shot a black aura filled arrow towards Ruby stopping her from aiding the knight. Jaune could not see what was going on. The blinding flash of light blurred his vision and the amount of blood he was losing was causing him to slowly lose consciousness and made it difficult to move around. It seems that the blast managed to devour plenty of his aura. Salem's sword dissipated from his body. She now eyed Jaune's friends.

"He is fine where he is, at the moment. For now, I will take care of things here and I will finally be able to start what I should have done long ago. Now, let's start with all of you." She combined her two blades into one and took her stance. Everyone else was exhausted from the fights they had earlier except for Yang and Ruby. Yang walked in front of everyone else ready to fight once more. Ruby walked to her side smiling at her sister.

"We don't plan on giving up. Not now… not ever. Remember that Salem." Yang replied.

"Do you actually believe that a Seasonal Maiden and a silver eyed warrior will be enough to stop me? That's adorable." From behind came Blake with her hand on the sheath of her katana, ready to fight by their side.

"Not just a maiden and a silver eyed warrior, but also a Faunus who can control the dark." The three of them were ready to strike back to protect their team, their friends.

"I'll make sure to strike you down and make you return what isn't rightfully yours!" Salem yelled.

"Let's see if you can!" Ruby was the first to attack. She darted towards her and appeared from behind. As she slashed with her scythe, Salem turned and stopped the curved blade before it could hit her. From behind appeared Yang. Her fist turned to a bright yellow dragon flame as she swung at the back of Salam's head.

"TRY BLOCKING THIS!" Yang yelled. Salem pushed the scythe wielder with the end of her blade and used the opposite end to deflect the impending punch as she turned around. Yang angered at her attack being deflected countered with a roundhouse kick to the face, but was stopped once again by Salem. Ruby and Blake took the chance to go for a combined attack that will guarantee a hit. As the scythe and katana came crashing down Salem kicked Yang's foot away that caused her to fall onto the ground and split her doubled bladed curved sword into two thus stopping both Ruby and Blake's attack from managing to make a direct hit. Ruby and Blake noticed Salem smile as her weapon's blades started to be covered with her dark aura and a shadow on both edges of the blades increased its length. The two jumped away before the shadow could touch them, but the shadow managed to scratch Blake on the arm. When Ruby turned to Blake, she noticed the look of exhaustion in her face.

"Blake what's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"When she used her dark aura on her weapon… I think it absorbed my aura when it struck me. Be careful."

"Got it." Ruby went ahead and assisted her sister who was holding her own against Salem. She was using her shotgun gauntlets to stop and deflect Salem's attacks. Unlike her old gauntlets, the ones she were given were more durable and are capable of withstanding sharp blades as well as Blake's katana that can slice through people's aura when fully charged. Not only that, but she could use her aura to increase the power of attacks thanks to the gauntlets.

"There!" Yang yelled. She saw an opening for an uppercut to the chin and it worked. Salem soared into the air. Yang fired several rounds towards her just to have it sliced in half and not make its mark.

"I haven't had this much fun for a long time!" Salem yelled. When Salem came crashing back down to the ground she aimed her blades downward. Yang used her gauntlets to shield her and it worked. The gauntlets took most of the damage and shielded her from the devastating effects of the dark imbuement around Salem's curved swords. Ruby attacked using her speed to outplay Salem with pure agility, but since she was Ozpin's sister she too had the same time manipulation as he did. Her body moved just as fast as Ruby and was able to block several hits. Blake took the chance to attack from behind. She used her clones to amplify her speed. While she attacked from one side, her clone attacked another simultaneously. Salem pushed all three away using only her aura the shielded her from deadly attacks. Another minute passed and Ruby, Yang, and Blake were still fighting. Blake immediately ordered her friends to stop. The awful sensation coursing throughout her body sensed two dark auras approaching close as well as two familiar auras.

"Blake, Ruby, Yang!" Weiss yelled.

"Nora!" Ren yelled. He rushed to her side and looked at her wound. Nora passed out from the exhaustion and her loss of blood.

"What caused this?" Ren asked.

"We couldn't defeat that Black Swordsman and he is coming our way!" Weiss yelled. Before anyone could respond Blake sensed a massive dark aura appear behind her, large enough to be capable of standing toe to toe with Salem. When she turned she couldn't stop what was coming towards her. A massive blade that was swung by the heavy built Black Swordsman. The blade penetrated through her aura and left a massive gash from her stomach all the way to her shoulder. Blood poured out of her body as she soured into the air. It almost looked as if it were raining blood. Ruby could only cover her mouth and shut her eyes when she witnessed her friend get killed.

"BLAKE!" Yang yelled. She jumped into the air and caught her before she could hit the ground. When she looked at her eyes it was obvious to her that her teammate, her friend was dead. An empty stare was the only thing she was able to show.

"NO NO NO YOU CAN'T DIE! NOT LIKE THIS! BLAKE!? BLAKE!?" Yang screamed. Ruby not focused at her fight in hand turned to see that Salem leaped towards her with her blades in hand ready to impale her just like Jaune.

"RUBY LOOK OUT!" Weiss yelled.

 _"_ _No."_ As the blades slowly got closer a body was seen to jump in front of the attack. Ruby's eyes widened as she saw the man who jumped in front of her. It was none other than Jay who leaped forward with all his strength and took the hit for her. The two blades entered his body and came out the back.

 _"_ _Saving this silver eyed warrior is pointless. You should have saved yourself."_ Salem's sinister smile changed. Her jaw dropped as she witnessed Jay's right eye flicker from its natural brown state to a blue glowing iris.

 _"_ _What are you!?"_

 _"_ _I can't let everything I worked hard for go to waste. If sacrificing myself will increase the chance of getting rid of Salem so be it."_ Jay responded the attack with a powerful rage filled punch to the abdomen that sent a jolt throughout her body and sent her rolling away several feet away. Jay collapsed to the ground coughing out large amounts of blood. His lungs were filled with blood and his entire body felt cold. The blades that were impaled dissipated and his eye returned back to its natural brown state.

 _"_ _Why am I not helping them? Why am I just laying here?"_ Jaune's mind was filled with questions without answers.

 _"_ _Am I dying? Everything is blurry and I can't even move my mouth. I can feel something stuck inside me. It… it feels like a sword. Is… is it my sword?"_ Jaune's body was starting to relax and his breathing started to slow down. The pain he was enduring was now fading away along with his memories. Salem got back on her feet and walked towards the group who were struggling to stay away from the berserk swordsman. It seems the Black Swordsman was no longer being controlled by Salem and instead was being controlled by his thirst for blood.

"It seems that placing my full control on Jaune disrupted my influence on the others." The Wolf Knight now had complete control of himself, but his mind was already lost by the dark abyss. The two dark users were now fighting each other rather than helping one another. Ruby attempted to pull Jay out of the battlefield, but she wasn't able to. Instead she stood in front of him ready to protect him, the one who shot her sister several times in order to get Raven to appear.

"What are you doing? Get out of her and return back to Beacon. Tell Yang to use Raven's blade to get all of you out of her while you still can."

"I'm not like you Jay. I don't believe in sacrificing a life for the greater good. Everyone's life is equal and not one outweighs the other no matter the circumstances. I am not ready to let Jaune and you die!"

"Don't be stupid Ruby! You need to look at the bigger picture here! There are more lives at risk than Jaune and I. If you can save even 2 more lives by leaving us here then do it! This is what Jaune would want!"

"No! I'm staying!" Ruby yelled. She readied Crescent Rose and prepared to defend Jay.

"You don't have to worry Jay. This whole ordeal will play out the same way it happened to Jaune. Ruby will die… the same way Pyrrha did when she tried to protect him."

 _"_ _Pyrrha?"_ Before Jaune's eyes could close, they widened.

 _"_ _Pyrrha… that name sounds familiar. Pyrrha…"_ Jaune's body trembled.

 _"_ _That name sounds very familiar. I know that name yet I don't remember. Pyrrha… Pyrrha…"_

Images of a girl with long luscious red hair appeared in his mind. Her emerald eyes were mesmerizing to Jaune. Her signature red and gold outfit brought a strange yet satisfying smile to him. He tried to feel her pale white skin with the palm of his hand, but it went through her.

 _"_ _Pyrrha… Pyrrha N… Ni…kos. That's who she was. I need to remember what happened to her."_ Flashing images of moments with Pyrrha appeared in his mind. From the day he first met her, from the Cardin event, from the dance in Beacon all the way to the moment of her death. His body covered with gashes started steaming.

 _"_ _That's what happened to her, but why am I continuing to fight with her gone!?_ Images of Ruby nearly getting killed by Adam Taurus, the fight between him and Cinder, the moment when Pyrrha and Adam fought against him, and the images of Jay and Yang when he and his friends were commanded to choose who lives and who dies in Mistral. These images flashed and angered him greatly. His eyes glowed red once again and the steam coming out of his lacerations turned to black infernos.

 _"_ _That's right! I wanted to get revenge for what they did to Pyrrha. I wanted to get revenge for what they did to Beacon! Their selfish desires and their concern for human life are unforgivable! I can never forgive people like them and I won't let the same mistake occur again! I won't let someone else die protecting me because of my weaknesses."_ Jaune grabbed his sword from his stomach and attempted to rip the blade straight out. His blood covered teeth were grinding on one another to alleviate the pain he was enduring as he slowly pulled the sword out. It was not blood that spewed out from the wound, but black flames. The black aura emerged out of him and completely swallowed his entire body leaving a black metallic knight armor that was corroded with the darkness similar to that of the Wolf Knight and the Black Swordsman, but unique to him. The crescent moon symbol appeared on his back. It's his family's sign that is passed down from generations to generations. The helmet covered most of his face, but not his mouth. The dark conjured up a black corroded kite greatshield that has long been forgotten. A crescent moon in front of the shield revealed that it once belonged to an Arc. Jaune's aura pushed away the rubble allowing him to get back on his two feet. The black flames continued to rage on around his wound yet he did not feel any pain from it. Everyone looked in awe as Jaune emerged from the rubble with his sword drawn and his newly acquired shield.

"Jaune…" Ruby whispered. Everyone focused on the Black Knight as he walked out of the rubble and into the battlefield.

"There's no need for any of you to continue fighting. I'll shoulder all the pain from here on out."

"We can't just let you fight them alone! Let us…" Weiss said.

"No! I don't want any of you to end up like Pyrrha or… Blake." Jaune looked at Yang who was holding Blake's body.

Jaune's first target was the tall Black swordsman who had his sights on Jaune already. The swordsman although battling it out against the Wolf Knight was ready for Jaune. Jaune approached him from the front and used his sword to block the massive greatsword that clashed against his own. The power and weight behind the attack left a crater underneath Jaune and the shards of rock flew into the air. The Wolf Knight who was no longer under the influence of Salem rushed towards the two, intending to complete his task in stopping the Abyss no matter the cost. The Knight somersaulted over Jaune to strike down the Swordsman who wasn't focused on him. The Swordsman was forced onto the ground and the knight quickly turned to swing at Jaune. Both of their blades made contact and for a brief moment both of their minds were one.

 _"_ _I will stop the spread of the abyss… at the cost of my life. That is my purpose… my only purpose!"_ The Wolf Knight managed to strike Jaune across the chest with his sword, but as the blade pierced through his skin, fire permeated on the tip of his blade. Jaune took a step back to avoid his spinning low slash that was intended for him and the Swordsman that got back up. The Black Swordsman fell on his back again this time with black flames burning away at his heels.

"What?" Yang said. Blake's wound was starting to close and life returned to her eyes.

" ***GASP*** " Blake took a deep breath as she awoke from being dead not too long ago.

"You're alive!" Yang yelled. Ruby and the others turned to see Blake wide awake and being embraced by Yang.

"I thought you were dead." Yang cried.

"What happened?" Blake asked.

"That Swordsman got you and… and your gash was so deep. I could have sworn that you were dead. Actually… you were dead." Blake turned to see Jaune taking on the two Dark users alone.

"We can't just let him fight alone! We need to help him!" Blake quickly got back on her feet and was stopped by Jaune before she could assist him.

"Blake, stop!"

"Why?"

"This is my fight Blake. You were just dead a second ago and I don't know how you are still standing, but I will definitely not let that happen again." Jaune looked towards Salem's direction and saw her smiling at him.

"I'm going to end this now." Jaune aimed his sword at his abdomen and stabbed himself with it.

"JAUNE!" Ruby yelled. Jaune pulled the weapon out and it was now fused with black flames. He turned towards the Abyss walker and the Black Swordsman who were fighting against one another. Jaune rushed them both swinging his sword wildly. The Abyss walker deflected every attack, but he could only do so much with only one hand. Jaune blocked his attack with his shield and slashed the knight at his ribs. Jaune noticed the berserk swordsman swinging towards him and swiftly moved out of the way. The swordsman massive sword completely split the Wolf Knight in two and ended up dissolving into the wind. Jaune spun and slashed at the swordsman's arm catching it on fire, but he wasn't strong enough to completely slice it off. However it was enough to dislocate his elbow and cause him to drop his weapon. Jaune slashed once more this time across his face and slash his legs. Jaune jumped away and knew the only way to completely kill him was to unleash a devastating fiery blast. The amount of dark aura the swordsman held was more than Salem and his own combined. This man was built to kill Grimm stronger, faster, taller, and heavier than him. No one on Remnant could ever compare to him especially the four maidens. He was able to survive Rhett's blast. He shouldn't survive this one.

 _"_ _It's all or nothing."_ Jaune placed his shield on his back and gripped the handle of his sword tightly with both hands. He raised the weapon over his head building up dark aura and flames in it. The swordsman got back up and looked at his useless arm. The swordsman's armor tightened the area of his arm causing his bone to be placed back where it initially was regaining movement of his arm. As Jaune was charging his attack he ordered his friends to take cover and prepared to unleash it on the frenzied man that was heading straight at him with his sword at hand.

"RAAAAGH!" A black fiery blast was unleashed from the sword as he dropped it towards the swordsman. Everything in front of Jaune was scorched and covered with black flames. The trees closest to him burned to the ground whereas anything further away was burning away. The distance the flames reached was anyone's guess, but it did cover a long distance. Jaune scanned to see whether the swordsman lived or not and to his surprise, the swordsman was covered in black flames and on the ground, but still moving. Jaune walked over to the man and finished him off by stabbing him directly at his heart.

"Now all that's left…" Jaune turned to Salem who had an evil grin on her face. She had been waiting patiently for her turn.

"…is you."

"This… this is going to be so much fun." Salem split her double bladed staff and readied herself for the impending attack.

"You're going to regret forcing me to fight against my own friends." Jaune ran towards the woman. The flames spewing out of his wounds grew even more. Jaune quickly raised his hand to conjure up black flames underneath Salem. Her body then fell into a black smoke hole that she conjured underneath her. Jaune quickly stopped and turned behind him. He sense Salem reappearing behind him and managed to stop both of her blades with his shield and sword. He kicked her away and used his polarity to pull her back towards him, aiming his blade at her heart. She then released her blades from her grip and managed to regain her balance. Jaune released his semblance and rushed towards her once again. Salem created a black smoke around her hands that materialized the same blades she had moments ago. The two exchanged attacks connecting three hits, but neither side was in pain. Both of their aura are strong enough to take the attack. Salem covered in black flames released her aura causing the black fire to dissipate into the air. She jumped away to dematerialize her weapon. She then summoned a bow with black arrows aimed towards Jaune. She launched a few arrows to which Jaune responded by placing his shield in front of him and using his black hole semblance to send the arrows to the black void.

 _"_ _Those weren't any ordinary arrows. They would have gone through my shield no problem."_

The black flame on Jaune's sword vanished, but that didn't stop him from stabbing himself once more to imbue his sword again with it.

"Why do you continue fighting Jaune? You and I both know where this will ultimately end."

"It will end with your death Salem."

"It might very well be, but what will be left of you? Look at yourself, you're becoming just like me. Thirsty for revenge." Jaune angered by this rushed towards her again. Their blades clashed sending sparks everywhere repeatedly. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss and the others watched as the two of them took shots on one another.

"We just can't stand here. We're letting Jaune do all the work by himself whereas we are just sitting here on our butts doing absolutely nothing." Weiss stated.

"Weiss is right, what kind of friends are we if we don't help him." Ruby said. She was the first to rush towards them followed by Weiss.

"Wait! Ruby, Weiss!" Yang shouted. She turned to Blake who got up and signaled her to join her with aiding Jaune. Yang nodded and cocked her shotgun gauntlets. Both followed behind Ruby and Weiss as they reached Salem. Ruby appeared behind Salem and swung her scythe to her side. Salem summoned her blades and managed to stop her scythe from reaching her. Jaune took the opposite side and it too was stopped by her other blade. She once again teleported through the black smoke underneath her and appeared behind Ruby. She thrusted her curved sword towards Ruby, but it was stopped by Blake's katana. Blake used her opposite hand to shoot several shots at Salem to which she deflected every round with her other blade. Yang from the side released a strong right hook across her face sending her sliding away.

"What are you all doing!? I told you not to interfere!" Jaune yelled.

"You're not enduring all this pain all alone Jaune. We are here to take some of that weight off of you whether you like it or not." Weiss said.

"That's right. Why don't you relax for a bit and let us do some of the heavy lifting." Yang said. Jaune looked back at Salem and noticed her faint smile grow.

 _"_ _Why is she smiling? Just what the hell is she planning?"_

"Listen to me. Be careful when you're around her. Something isn't right about her." Jaune commanded.

"You don't have to remind us about that." Yang's assault came first. She swung her fists viciously left and right. Salem avoided each punch and only managed to feel the burning sensation of her dragon fists. Ruby concentrated on Salem and used a special ability that she had learned from Mistral to paralyze Salem.

"What!?" Salem could not move her body and was taking punches left and right.

"I can't hold it much longer." Ruby said. Weiss used her glyphs to increase Blake's speed. In order to quickly reach Salem and to her shock Salem managed to break out and stop her attack. Blake's katana was storing energy every time her weapon and Salem's made contact. She jumped away to create a gap from them and summoned her bow once more. Her dark aura surrounded her bow and created an arrow that vibrated intensely. She shot the arrow towards the air and when it was about to drop down, it split into 50 dark arrows that surrounded the perimeter.

"Get close to me!" Jaune yelled. They huddled near Jaune as he created a black hole above them. The black void swallowed the arrows that would have seriously wounded or worse… killed them.

"Weiss now!" Blake yelled. Weiss used her glyph to catapult Blake towards Salem with her katana fully charged and ready to be unleashed. As she was sent soaring towards Salem she unsheathed her katana and sliced through her bow and through her aura. However the amount of aura she carried was no laughing matter. It managed to absorb most of the kinetic energy and shield Salem from being cut in two. Salem was sent sliding away with a non-life threatening injury.

"Ren, how's Nora?" Jay asked.

"She's going to be fine, but we need to finish Salem quickly so that we can get her to a doctor. The aura you gave her wasn't enough to completely heal her wound." Ren said. Nora had lost consciousness after losing quite a bit of blood and exhausting herself after running with an injury like that.

"Thanks for giving her your last flask of aura Jay. I don't want to think about it, but had you not had it she could have possibly died."

"I'm glad I could help." Jay looked back at the battle that was going on.

 _"_ _Just how much control does Jaune have?"_ Jay wondered.

"Time to finish this! Everyone stay back!" Jaune yelled. He used his polarity to raise himself into the air and launch himself towards Salem who did not expect that to happen. Salem was about to use her blade to shield herself, but as she did Ruby fired two shots at the handle of her swords that caused them to fly off. Jaune reached Salem and placed his sword in front of them. His blade finally pierced through her aura and into her abdomen. Jaune pushed her down onto the ground pinned her there. He looked at her black veined eyes with a satisfied look on his face.

"It feels good doesn't it? Looking at your enemy as she is about to die?" Salem said.

"You brought this onto yourself. Had you not done what you did… maybe things would have been different for you. This is where you will die."

"And the same thing will happen to you Jaune." Salem coughed blood as she struggled to catch her breath.

"You will… end up like me. You'll be killed by the people you swore to… protect. You are ***cough* *cough*** following the same path after all." Ruby and her team walked towards them to listen in.

 _"_ _Just a little longer."_ Ruby and the others reached them and stared at the wicked woman.

"Your dreams, your ambitions, your desires… it all ends here. You'll no longer be a threat to Remnant."

"I won't be a threat… but maybe you will." Salem's aura released from her body and appeared underneath the team. Jaune noticed this and quickly used his polarity to push the team away from the two of them. Ruby slid away hitting a boulder, Blake crashed into Ren, Yang managed to retain her balance, and Weiss used her Glyph to stop herself.

"JAUNE!" Jay yelled. The black aura that once belonged to Salem surrounded Jaune's body.

"It's about time you come to realization of who you truly are!"

"WHY YOU!" Jaune yelled as he tried to overcome the overwhelming power he was given. His screams of agony could be heard from a far distance. His souls started to be split in two. His dark half and his light half now two separate beings.

"CINDER, ADAM, RHETT, SALEM… PYRRAAAAAAH!" A whirlpool of emotions filled Jaune. The negative emotions he had suppressed… now released. A black mist was forced out of his body, spreading throughout the woods and continued to spread through parts of the towns in the surrounding area. The civilians in the cities and rural areas could feel the negativity surrounding them. This was something that creatures of Grimm were strongly attracted to.

Jaune's body flickered and his head turned to Salem. His anger and frustration directed towards her.

"Come Jaune… COME AND FINISH ME!" Images of Pyrrha's smile flashed in his head.

"YOUR INFLUENCE ON CINDER AND RAVEN STARTED THIS MESS! YOUR ACTIONS CAUSED PYRRHA TO DIE AND MADE ME GO THROUGH HELL! I CAN NEVER FORGIVE YOU! RAAAAAAGH!" Jaune unleashed a powerful blast of dark aura mixed with the black flames from his sword that disintegrated her entire body.

"Good… that's the face of one who has accepted the pain."

"JAUNE! JAUNE!" Ruby yelled.

"That's not Jaune anymore." Blake said as her eyes widened, arms shook, and her body trembled.

"I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU!" The ground underneath Jaune shook and crumbled. Black aura erupted underneath as if smoke were trying to escape from a confined space. His blonde pale hair from the front lost its pigment. The two souls were now fighting over control over his body and mind. The raging inferno spewing out of his wounds settled leaving only embers and the ground stopped shaking. He was no longer upset.

 _"_ _We can't let someone like Salem ever spawn in Remnant again! Those who carelessly take human lives into consideration cannot be forgiven!"_

"Jaune!" Ruby yelled. Jaune's uncontrollable rage needed to be focused on something or someone. His head turned to his team. They stared at what had become of him. A body filled with wrath. Jaune stabbed himself with his sword and filled it with fire and dark aura. The flames spewing out through his wound grew showing that his wrath continues to grow. He sped towards his team ready to unleash hell on them. Blake attempted to stop his attack with her katana, but it was useless. His strength, power, and speed outmatch her. His powerful slash caused her blade to absorb too much power and caused it to detonate in front of her. Although the blade was still in one piece, using a weapon like hers against someone as strong as Jaune would spell trouble for her. Yang from behind attempted to unleash a fiery jab in the back of his head. Jaune however, sense her presence and used his shield to block the attack and swing his sword. With his speed he managed to land several hits and finish it off with a shield bash. Yang was sent rolling away, but thanks to her semblance, her strength, speed, and endurance increased dramatically. She rushed towards him not letting him get ready for the assault. She swung her fists wildly, ejecting several dust propelled rounds into his shield and body. Yang ducked as Jaune swung his sword and saw the opportunity to grab his arm and kick his leg to bring him down on the ground, but the only problem was that his body was a flame itself. This would mean she would have to force herself to catch on fire along with her attack.

"RRRRAAAAGHHH!" Jaune roared. The ground underneath them started to release black flames which Yang responded by jumping away from him. The ground underneath Jaune turned to black molten rocks.

"Jaune there's no need to fight! Snap out of it!" Ren yelled.

"We're your friends remember! You don't want to do this!" Weiss yelled. Jaune looked at Weiss next and readied his sword. He let out a loud roar as he approached the ice princess. Weiss quickly took action by accurately placing her blade in Jaune's chest causing his body to be covered in ice.

 _"_ _This should cool him off."_ Weiss thought.

"NGGHH!" Jaune's body quickly melted through the ice and was about to hack away at Weiss. From the edge of his line of sight, Ren appeared to stop the blade from ripping through her, but with all of Jaune's strength, he managed to break through Ren's blades and deplete all of his aura with one single attack.

"REN!" Jay yelled. He quickly rushed towards Jaune whose blade's fire had just been extinguished.

"Take this!" He attempted to punch Jaune across the face, but Jaune had no problem avoiding it. Jay noticed Jaune was ready to swing and ducked underneath before it could lacerate him across the neck. He grabbed his sigil knife and sliced through the Knight's aura causing the wound to eject even more flames than before. Jaune quickly responded by shield bashing Jay away from him.

"Ruby!" Jay yelled. His body was all worn out from the back to back fights he had to go through the night.

"…" Ruby looked at Jay with a worried look. She didn't know what to do. Should she help them in stopping Jaune or stand there and hope Jaune could come to his senses?

"Don't just sit there! Help us!" Jay yelled.

"I… I…" Jaune jumped towards Ruby slamming down his sword on her. Luckily for Ruby, she jumped out of the way before she could be struck. A pit was all that was left where Ruby once stood. This wasn't just some ordinary man or a strong Huntsman. He was strong enough to be considered close to a demigod. Blake arrived once more to aid the silver eyed warrior. She used her semblance to leave behind an ice clone as Jaune thrusted his sword towards her. His arm and sword were now lodged in the ice statue leaving him unable to attack. Blake saw her chance to attack from the side and went for it. However, much like the Wolf Knight, Jaune used his shield to block the attack and break out of the ice statue to slash at her. Jay saw the opportunity that he was looking for and took it. He kicked off the ground and soared towards Jaune with his knife aiming directly towards his neck.

"No!" Ruby yelled. She aimed her sniper rifle towards Jay's arm and fired a shot into it causing the knife to fall onto the ground. Jay had no aura left to shield him from attacks and the round went through it. He landed on one knee as he groaned in pain.

"What the hell was that for!?" Jay placed his hand over the bullet wound and continued to groan in agony.

"I'm sorry… I… we don't have to kill Jaune! If we can call out to him maybe he'll be able to fight it!" Blake managed to get both of her hands on Jaune's arms and take him down. Her dark aura shielded her from the dangerous flames that spewed out of him. She dug her dark claws deeper into his body in order to immobilize him.

"AAAHHHHHH!" Jaune yelled. He manifested his helmet and head-butted Blake's face. She released Jaune and rolled to the side covering her face.

Jaune rolled towards the knife in attempt to use against Blake. Jay however, didn't give him enough time to grab it. He kicked off the ground and headed straight towards him. He boosted himself towards Jaune and followed up by reaching out with his right hand to grab Jaune's arm and twist it. Jay used the end of his foot to tilt the knife over his feet and kick it towards the air in front of him. The knife flew into the air in front of them and both looked at it as it flipped in flight.

Jay released Jaune's arm and grabbed the knife instead which Jaune hastily responded by punching Jay in the stomach. He bent over and Jaune kneed him across his chin. Jaune pulled his shield and sword towards him and clenched it tightly in his hands as Jay rolled back and landed back on his feet.

"RUBY! THERE'S NO HELPING JAUNE! YOU HAVE TO COME TO TERMS WITH WHAT HE HAS BECOME! IF HE GET'S OUT OF HERE, HUNDREDS OF LIVES WILL BE LOST! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!?"

"DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO KILL JAUNE! AFTER ALL THE TIME I WASTED CHASING HIM DO YOU EXPECT ME TO KILL HIM!? I WON'T!" Ruby yelled. Yang sent several rounds towards Jaune from the side. He used his shield to protect him from the attack and followed up by turning and slashing at the golden fighter. He hurled a black flame towards her way intending to torch her. She used her shotgun gauntlets to absorb the attack and now her fists were imbued with the black flame. The gauntlets are what kept her safe and unable to be harmed by it. A good defense always makes a good offense. The black flames surrounding her fists turned into black dragons. She swung her fists wildly sending several crescent shaped flames back at Jaune. He created a black hole in front of him to send the flames away. When Jaune turned he was struck by Weiss's rapier in his chest. He looked at the girl's light blue eyes that are filled with tears that were ready to stream down her cheeks. This was also hurting her too, but unlike Ruby she understands what must be done. Jaune was pushed away and he quickly filled his sword with aura. This next attack will have devastating effects.

"Weiss get out of there!" Blake yelled. His attack had absorbed enough energy to cut through a person's aura 5x. Weiss had no time to react and wouldn't have time to use her glyphs to escape, but before the sword could lacerate Weiss she felt someone shove her out of the way. It was Ren who made it just in time to push her aside and take the attack in her stead. Blood ejected into the air and Ren was sent sliding away.

"REN!" Jay yelled.

"No." Ruby quietly said. Jaune looked over to Ren who had a deep gash across his chest. Blood was ejecting out of his mouth and spilling onto the floor. The ground was a pool of blood. Weiss sped towards Ren to aid him.

"Why did you save me? You weren't the one who he wanted to kill."

"I… I couldn't let Jaune… to… to kill one of my… friends. I could not bear to watch him do something… that… w…will change the way I… I view him." Ruby arrived next to Ren and placed her hand over the wound. There's no way to stop the bleeding.

"Ruby…" Ren said.

"Why… why do things have to turn out like this. I don't understand. Where did I go wrong with Jaune?"

"It… it's not your fault. There's no need to… beat yourself up for something that… is beyond your hands."

"What… what am I going to tell Nora?" Ruby placed her hands over her face. Ren's blood covered Ruby's face along with her tears that are streaming down her cheeks.

"Tell… Nora to keep moving forward. Tell her th… that I will always be with her and promise me… promise me you won't…tell… N…Nora what… what… ha…happ-" Ren's eyes slowly shut and Ruby shut hers.

 _"_ _Ren… I… I'm sorry, but I can't live without Jaune. He is what drives me to become something better. He is what shines my day. The moment I saw his misery that awful day… I… I couldn't stand to see him that way. That's when I realized how much his sadness affected me. When I look at him now… he looks the same way he was before."_

Yang blasted herself towards Jaune. As he placed his shield in front of him, Blake used her grappling hook to pull his arm away allowing the fiery golden fighter to strike him across the face using her black fire imbued fist. The attack landed, but Jaune used the power behind the attack to his advantage. He spun as she punched him across the face and returned the favor by swinging his sword across her stomach. The impact was so strong that it nearly penetrated through her aura. Jaune then followed up by pulling Blake towards him. When she reached him, Jaune dropped his shield and grabbed Blake by the face and slammed her onto the ground with her face facing him. Jaune flipped his sword, ready to ram it down her chest. Jay gritted his teeth and rushed Jaune before he could finish off Blake. He threw a punch, hoping to hit Jaune in time. Jaune had dropped his sword and stopped Jay's punch in the palm of his hand. Jaune glared at the soldier with his gleaming red eyes and kicked Blake away from him and now had his eyes set on him instead. The Black Knight pulled him and unleashed a powerful dark aura punch that pushed his body into the air. In midflight, Jaune used his polarity to retrieve his sword and assaulted Jay with several slashes across his body.

One slash, two slash, three, four, five, and six. One in the arm, another across his chest, the third one across his stomach, the fourth just as strong as the third made contact with his right forearm, the fifth was well placed in his left shoulder, however the last one missed his throat but managed to scratch his cheek. Jaune then shield bashed him away. Jay slid away on the ground and remained there, feeling the burning sensation all over his body.

Jay pushing through the excruciating pain got back on his feet. The black flames are burning away at his clothing and his skin.

"You just killed Ren and you're showing absolutely no remorse and now you're about to kill me." Jay lifted his head and looked at Jaune straight at his glowing red eyes.

"I WON'T LET THE OTHERS MEET THE SAME FATE! I WILL CRUSH YOU HERE WITH MY OWN HANDS IF I HAVE TO!" Jay's eyes changed to a blue glowing state and his aura appeared once again all over his body. The flames around his body extinguished and his energy returned once more. However it was nowhere near Jaune's. Jay kicked off the ground and jumped towards Jaune, quickly closing the gap between the two. He swung his fist upward hitting Jaune right below his chest. Jay pulled his knife as Jaune was in mid-flight and slashed several times over Jaune's body.

"RAGH!" Jaune roared. His sword struck Jay in his abdomen.

"Please… stop fighting." Ruby whispered. Grabbing her head and kneeling over.

 _"_ _What do I do? I don't want to hurt either of them. I don't know who to choose. My friends… or Jaune?"_

Jay sped towards Jaune again, avoiding his sword swings with his semblance. When Jaune left himself open he pushed his shield to the side and threw several punches into his stomach. The intense black inferno caught his fists on fire. It was a price he had to pay fighting against a man fueled by fire.

 _"_ _Something's not right. Jaune is 10x more stronger than all of us yet he hasn't finished us. Is he really holding back? It doesn't matter at this point. He must be stopped."_ Before Jay could deliver the last punch Jaune ejected more flames out of his body which fazed Jay. He used the opportunity to direct a powerful dark aura attack from his sword towards him. The attack was a success and Jay was heavily damaged by it. As Jay rolled away he quickly recovered and took the time to catch a breather whereas Jaune's rage continued to grow. Jay got back on his feet. He limped as he tried to dodge Jaune's assault, but after dodging a few attacks with his fist in front of him ready to counter attack when the opportunity presented itself, he felt a tear in his left bicep. It was difficult for him to move his arm. Jay jumped away to avoid fighting him any further, but as he did Jaune threw his sword straight at him. Jay activated his semblance and the weapon went through him.

 _"_ _He's going to use his polarity to bring it back."_ Jaune did what Jay anticipated. When the sword flipped and headed back towards him he jumped towards Jaune, hoping that by activating his semblance he'll get go through Jaune and the sword would impale him instead, but as he went through Jaune, Jaune teleported in front of Jay.

 _"_ _Dammit!"_ The sword stabbed Jay through the back of his shoulder. Jaune twisted his sword with his polarity damaging Jay even further.

"ARGH!" Jay out of desperation kicked Jaune in the stomach. He then used his hand to remove the blade out of his left shoulder before Jaune could get back on his feet and do further damage to him. Jaune returned his sword to his side and rushed the injured man. Jay used his semblance to dodge his swing and pulled out his single shot pistol and fired a round into Jaune's ribs. A loud roar was released out of Jaune's mouth as the bullet bypassed his aura and entered his body.

"JAUNE!" Ruby yelled.

 _"_ _He shouldn't be able to move now."_ Jaune through sheer will power alone managed to raise his arm and was about to slash him across his body.

"How can you still be…" Jay's eyes widened and gnashed his wine stained teeth. Parts of his face dirtied as if someone had rubbed charcoal on him.

"RAAAAGH!" Jaune roared. He swung his sword aggressively at Jay landing several hits. His aura was now flickering on and off now. This next hit will definitely kill Jay.

Before Jaune could deliver the finishing blow Ruby appeared by him and stopped the blade from slicing through Jay's neck.

"Jaune I know you do not want to hurt your friends so I'm begging you… please fight it!" The others watched as Ruby attempted to bring the Jaune she knew back out. Jaune raised his arm, ready to cut through the rose. Jay who had just reloaded the pistol fired once more at Jaune's chest as Jaune pushed him away. This time the bullet stopped him on his tracks. Jay grabbed his knife and tossed it to Ruby as he slid away. She stared at the knife, hesitating to pick it up.

"What are you doing!? Finish him!" Jay yelled. His body no longer had aura to prevent the rest of his muscles from being strained and torn apart. He was unable to move his body now.

"I can't… I won't." Tears streamed down her cheeks. She shut her eyes trying to come up a solution to their problems that did not involve finishing the first boy she met in Beacon.

"Yang! Blake! Weiss! Do something!" Jay screamed. They only stood by and watched to see what Ruby would do. None of them wanted to be the one who took away her friend's happiness.

 _"_ _I don't know what to do!"_

"You…bitch!" Jay yelled. He used every ounce of strength, whatever stamina he had left to reload the chamber and aim it towards Jaune. His arm violently shook as he aimed the barrel of the gun at Ruby's back. He aimed it carefully so that the bullet would go through Ruby and hit Jaune in the heart. All Jay could see was Ruby's torn cape, her ripped leggings, and the back of her head. It doesn't matter at this point. He doesn't care if he would become the most hated person here, if it meant stopping Jaune so be it.

 _"_ _I can't let it end this way, not when I have gotten this far!"_ Jay yelled in his head. Before he could fire his gun, it was kicked from his hand and missed his target.

"Yang!? Why!?" It was Yang who kicked the gun away from Jay. She got down on one knee and picked Jay up by his hair. Both were now on their knees and their red and blue eyes met.

"I warned you, if you ever pulled something like that again I would kill you myself."

"Yang… your sister is willing to risk your life, Blake, Weiss and over a hundred people to bring back Jaune even though it is… impossible!" Yang eyes were empty, compared to Jay's who was slowly filling itself with anger and resentment. She didn't feel any sympathy to the soldier who was about to hurt her sister for the greater good. Her job was to keep her sister safe, but even she wondered whether keeping her safe at the cost of her happiness was something worth doing. Jay frowned at the girl and gritted his teeth.

"You're a Huntress!" Jay slightly turned his head and glared at Blake and Weiss.

"You're all Huntresses! You all knew very well the kind of trouble you were all going to face! Now that you have become what you always dreamt you're just going to throw it all away!? Why did you all become Huntresses for!? Just to go on an adventure? Just to make friends!? Just to let the people down!? You're going to give it all up for what!? A man!? A sister? A teammate? A friend!? You're all going to let hundreds of people die because of Ruby's selfish desire!?" Blake gritted her teeth and frowned at Jay. She promised herself that she wouldn't run away from her troubles anymore, but this kind of trouble wasn't something she ever thought would happen. Sacrificing Ruby's love for the sake of mankind wasn't something she thought could happen. This would mean changing everything about her. Weiss clamped her teeth together. She knew very well that in a way… he was also talking about her. Does she have the power to finish Jaune off and accept the hatred that Ruby will throw at her, sacrificing their inseparable bond? Yang upset by his comment about Ruby and her friends made her let go of his midnight blue hair and instead grip his neck.

"She is what brings a smile to my face. I just want to bring joy to her eyes and I am not willing to sacrifice my own little sister's happiness for you or anyone else for that matter. Losing herself… is like losing a part of me." She gripped his neck tighter making him gasp for more air.

"You're making a… big mistake Yang!" Jay placed both of his hands around Yang's.

Yang's crimson eyes started to be filled with tears. Her quest to look for Jay had ended today and what she found wasn't what she had been searching for.

"I… I hate you… Yang… Xiao… Long." Jay gripped his hands tighter around her wrists. His overwhelming anger and hatred had to be directed somewhere. Tears streamed down the side of her face as she clamped her teeth together.

"I hope… Ruby's decision comes to haunt the both of you… soon." Yang gripped even tighter this time, making Jay struggle for air.

"I hope she… watches as her decision gets the people close to her ***Gasp*** killed." Jay struggled to say.

"This is the only thing I can do to make sure you won't become a problem to us ever again."

"And when you and your sister are about to die… ***gasp*** "

"YANG!" Ruby yelled.

"The Jay I knew… the Jay I shared my life stories with, the Jay I was looking for…"

"I hope the two of you will remember this…" Jay started to lose consciousness.

"Is not you."

"Day."

"YANG STOP!" Yang released her grip on Jay's neck. Jay collapsed onto the ground not moving a muscle. She stood up and turned to Ruby who looked at her with a worry look on her eyes. For a moment Ruby thought she was about to lose her older sister.

"GRRRRH!" Jaune roared. The two sigil covered bullets made it difficult for him to move around, but in a brief moment he managed to regain control over his arms. He raised his hand, ready to drive his sword through Ruby's heart. Yang, Blake took immediate action and darted towards them. As they were about to stop Jaune, he swung his arm at them sending them sliding away. The powerful swing had all of his aura focused on that particular area. However, the bullet made him accidentally let go of his weapon as he pushed them all aside except for Ruby.

 _"_ _We need to stop! We don't have to do this!"_ Jaune yelled to his twin.

 _"_ _You gave up your good name for the sake of saving thousands of people in Mistral. You gave it all up thinking it would save the lives, but it didn't and now they see you as an enemy. We need to change their look on you and the only way to start doing that is by finishing things up here."_

 _"_ _They haven't done anything wrong! So why should we!?"_

 _"_ _They won't stop until this gift is gone, you know that. This hurts me as much as it hurts you, but it must be done."_

"I'm not going to fight you Jaune." Ruby threw her scythe away and stared at the knight. Tears shone in her eyes. Unable to control his hatred, anger, and frustration Jaune formed a fist and punched Ruby across the face several times.

 _"_ _Please we have to stop!"_

 _"_ _Finish her Jaune."_

"Jaune… this isn't you." Jaune punched her again across the face. Her face bruised up and covered with her own tears and blood.

"This isn't you Jaune."

 _"_ _Finish her Jaune!"_ Jaune reached for the knife that Ruby did not dare to pick up and for a moment everything stopped. From inside his head appeared a woman in a golden red outfit. She was someone Jaune knew all too well. It was Pyrrha.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha said.

"Pyrrha?" Both Jaune's replied.

"You've changed… the both of you."

"How… how are you here?" Dark Jaune asked.

"Remember what I said in Emerald Forest? When I helped you unlock your aura?"

"Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder… protect thee." Both the light and dark said in unison.

"When I used my aura to release yours, traces of it remained inside and it allowed me to enter inside your mind and when you absorbed my dark aura that increased the chances of this happening. You saw me before didn't you? I couldn't communicate with you just yet. It was more difficult than I initially thought. It's a trick that only those in my family are capable of doing." Both twins teared up at the sight of their loved one reappearing once again in front of them. Not as an enemy, but a friend. The dark Jaune approached her and attempted to caress her cheek, but like before his hand went through her.

"I don't have a physical form here… I'm sorry." The dark clone of Jaune turned around and formed a fist angered for not being able to feel her soft skin once again.

"Why… why did you have to sacrifice yourself to protect me? I was useless, powerless to defend you and myself. You shouldn't have suffered for my weakness."

"Don't say that. You weren't weak."

"I was and here we are now." The light twin said. Pyrrha scanned the dark side of Jaune.

"You've… you've changed." Pyrrha said to the dark knight.

"This is what I turned out to be because of my inability to save you. Here I am now trying to make sure something like that never has to happen again to anyone else."

"But you're about to kill your friends… you're about to kill Ruby. You understand how she feels about you don't you? She feels the same way I felt and still felt about you. I loved you for who you were back in Beacon. Not the one you turned out to be now." The light Jaune walked in front of his darker self.

"We wanted to avenge your death. We couldn't stand by and watch as Cinder and Adam continue taking more lives. We couldn't stand and watch as others got their loved ones taken away like us. We wanted to prevent that from happening. We didn't want this to reoccur again."

"At the cost of your own soul. Your soul has been split in two, unable to continue maintaining the light and dark in your heart. You've become nothing more than a serial killer Jaune… a serial killer like Salem. " Jaune's heart sank. He couldn't believe that the woman he bled for, the woman he mourned for, the woman he killed for rejected his actions.

"Pyrrha…" Jaune's voice broke down.

"What… what was I to you?" The light Jaune asked.

"You were someone I loved and you still are. You were someone who brought a smile to my face just like you brought a smile every day to Ruby when you were there… near her. I found it hard to express how I felt about you and before I could build up the courage to say it… I…" Jaune's eyes glistened from the bright red light that emitted from Pyrrha and the tears gathering in the edge of his eyes.

"We miss you." Dark Jaune said. Pyrrha walked over to him and tried to wipe his tears off of his face, but couldn't.

"There's no need to continue fighting. There's no need for you to continue struggling. You can stop carrying everyone's burdens. You're not alone." Pyrrha reached out to the both of them.

"You've done your job already. It's time to finally rest." The dark side of Jaune reached for her arm, but returned it to his side.

"No. We've come this far already. I can't allow someone else to feel the same pain we had to endure."

"I've been watching over you Jaune. That's enough. There's no need for you to continue taking everyone's anger and frustration." Jaune looked down on Ruby who was covered in blood and was emotionally torn. He saw that he was holding Jay's knife. His arm violently shook as he aimed the knife at her heart.

"Jaune… I know… I know you can hear me. Jaune it's me." Ruby voice broke down.

"There's no need to carry all that responsibility over your shoulders. Let us… let me help you." Ruby swallowed the blood that slowly filled in her mouth.

"Jaune…we're family." Jaune paused for a moment, his heart skipping a beat.

"We need you… I need you… because I love you." Ruby could see a tear streaming down his cheek when she said that. His red glowing eyes quickly flickering.

 _"_ _You have to decide Jaune."_ Pyrrha said, offering her hand to both individuals.

 _"_ _Your purpose or your family?"_

 **Thanks for reading this chapter. I actually got this out sooner than usual because of the RWBY volume 4 release is coming soon. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you will stick around for the final chapter that will be released as soon as possible. I guarantee that it will be released before Volume 4 of the show is released. Have a nice day!**


	31. Chapter 31 - Ain't No Devil

**Chapter 31 – Ain't no Devil**

 ***Well this is it. The final chapter to this story. I hope you enjoy it and if you don't I would like to thank you for sticking by me towards the bitter end. I know there are chapters that are bad and could use some work and with this story I think I got some useful tools that I could use if I were to make another one. Thank you all once again for staying and I do hope to see you around when RWBY volume 4 is released later today. (**

 ***This is something that you can do if you want. Before you read this chapter I suggest you listen to a good ole song that stayed in my head as I typed this down. It's something for you to picture in your head. Remember everything that had led up to this point as you listen to this song and the song is called**

 **"Carry on Wayward Son" By Kansas.**

A single tear fell from Jaune's face. He got onto his knees, violently shaking.

"Jaune?" Ruby said. Jaune's arm stretched towards Ruby and placed the knife he had onto her hand. He used his opposite hand to grab her fingers and make her grip the knife tightly, aiming it towards his heart. His arms shook violently, trying desperately to regain some control.

"No… no you can't, you can't make me do this Jaune." Ruby shook her head making it clear that she will not allow this to happen.

"Please Ruby. I'm begging… you." The fire ejecting from Jaune's wounds would repeatedly reignite. Jaune was struggling to retain control over his body and mind, but the immense of dark aura inside him made that nearly impossible. This was the only to stop him from killing another innocent life.

"I don't want to kill you! I don't want to live in a world where you aren't in it. Can't you see that I can't live without you?"

"Yes… you can. The Ruby I know wouldn't allow something like this to stop her from achieving her goal." Ruby looked towards the knife that was gripped tightly around her hands. She closed her eyes and remembered everything that she had done with Jaune that shaped her feelings for him. From the time she first met him, to the time he lost Pyrrha. She made sure that he wouldn't let the sadness of that day stop him from continuing to move forward. She remembered the days where he had completely forgotten about his revenge on Adam for the incident in Beacon. They were both practically dating at that point until Ozpin called him in to advise him of the mission he would be assigned to in Mistral. Everything was going towards the right direction, but the lust for revenge that reawakened in his heart made it impossible for them to live a good life together.

"I want you to know… you're not like me." Ruby looked back at the knight.

"You don't lust for revenge like me. I don't sense a single drop of hatred in your heart. You are the polar opposite of me. I am the darkness and you are the light. When I look at you, it is just like you said… you're the shining beacon that leads me to my destination. Which is why you are the only one who can do this. You… you are the only one that can set me free." Jaune helped Ruby to get the knife closer to his chest. The impending death is near.

"Please… don't." Ruby said once more.

"You… will lead the people to the right direction." Jaune placed his hand on her cheek and revealing a faint smile.

"I…" The knife inched closer to his chest.

"I…" The knife slowly pierced through his armor and into his skin.

"…Love you." The knife entered his chest punctured his heart. It's certain death. Her eyes completely shut, not wanting to see the empty look of her beloved's eyes.

"Why... why do you think that I can continue on like this!? You were the same as me! We both wanted to change this world for the better! Tell me what make you think I will not become like you Jaune!? Answer me! Jaune!" Ruby violently punched the ground angered by what had occurred. Everything that they have done led up to this point. Where did she go wrong, where did they go wrong.

"Why does it have to be you!? You didn't have to take on everything by yourself! You had us… you had me! Jaune! Wake up! Wake up!" Ruby yelled. Yang, Blake, and Weiss walked towards Ruby.

"Wake up! Wake up!"

"Ruby stop!" Weiss yelled. She got a hold of both of her hands that violently shook Jaune. Ruby looked towards Weiss who also had tears in her eyes.

"Why did things have to end this way Weiss? Why?" Ruby placed her head on Weiss's shoulder.

"It's okay Ruby. I understand how you feel, but you need to understand that there was nothing we could have done to save him. He chose death rather than risking the lives of those close to him. You and I both know we would have done the same." Everyone could only stare at the lifeless body of their friend with the thought of the world hating him. He who continued walking when everything fell apart, he who give his life to the innocent who hated him, he who was not afraid to stare at the darkness in front of him, he who embraced the black void. This man gave everything up and chose to save his friends instead. This man was Jaune Arc.

"I can't believe he's gone." Yang stated.

"Jaune held everyone's anger and frustration over his shoulders and never stopped walking. He didn't care if half the world hated him. He knew very well that what he was doing was for the better. He was willing to give up his life for us… his friends." From underneath Jaune spewed out the darkness that was locked inside his body. Every aura he had absorbed from the day he obtained his power dispersed from his body, spreading throughout the forest.

"What's going on!?" Yang yelled.

"I don't know!" Blake yelled. The dark aura spread through the ground and shaped into creatures of Grimm.

"Grimm!" Weiss yelled.

"We need to get out of here! They're forming all around us!" Ruby looked at Jaune's body where the black aura came from and didn't want to leave him behind.

"Weiss help me!" Ruby yelled as she attempted to pick the knight off the ground. Her height and strength wasn't enough to lift the 6 ft knight. Weiss couldn't say no to her and inside she also felt the need to take him as well. He deserves a proper burial.

"We can't fight them all! I have an idea!" Yang yelled. She pulled out Raven's blade and slashed through the air opening a portal.

"We can use this to teleport out of here! Let's go!" Ruby and Weiss pulled Jaune towards the portal while Blake fought off the Grimm that were after them.

"Yang!" Blake yelled.

"What is it!?"

"What about him!?" Yang looked towards the man she nearly killed, Jay.

"I can still sense his aura! He's still alive!" Blake yelled. Yang calm expressions slowly turned to a scowl.

"Leave him! We don't have any time!" She went ahead and picked up Ren's body and jumped into the portal. Once Weiss helped Ruby with Jaune, she went to pick Nora up and take her inside the portal leaving Blake left to jump inside. She looked at the fallen vanquisher who had nothing else to offer to them. He fought alongside them in the past and in a way still did. However his ways were questionable, but understandable to Blake. With Jaune gone, someone is going to need to take his place, but one thing is certain to her. She will not become like him. She picked Jay up and walked inside the portal with him. The portal vanished and team RWBY escaped the danger that had arisen from Jaune's death. The forest was now infested with Grimm everywhere. What was once a settlement created by the Abyss Watchers was now gone along with them. The only thing that remained was the cracked Mausoleum that kept a portion of the darkness inside. The black mist that had spread through the cities nearby served as a beacon to the creatures of Grimm that spawned inside the forest. Imminent danger was approaching to the nearby cities.

"Ruby Yang!" Qrow yelled when he saw the two appear out of the red portal followed by Weiss, Blake, Nora, Jay, and a now deceased Jaune. The school has since been surrounded by police, armored trucks, and helicopters. News about Jaune's whereabouts quickly spread like fire bringing the world's attention to Beacon. Qrow ran towards the girls and looked at Ruby's face.

"What happened to you? Yang how did this happen? What happened to Jaune and Ren?"

"Qrow it's… it's a long story just please help me take Ruby and Nora into the infirmary please." Qrow carried Nora into the school whereas Yang helped Ruby.

"So that's him?" One of the officers said. He was observing Jaune's body and had multiple people looking over their phones.

"Yup it is. No doubt about it. These girls took him out?"

"Seems like it, but who are the other two?"

"His name is Lie Ren and he was part of his team." Blake said.

"Lie Ren huh? This man really is an ice cold killer. Only a monster would kill one his teammates." These words upset Blake, but she knows that they don't know the truth and should never know. If someone learns about this another Cinder or something worse could arise.

"Weiss, I'll take him to the infirmary. Stay here and wait for them to take Jaune and Ren. They are going to want to make an autopsy and report Jaune's death to Mistral." Blake said.

"Y-yeah… ok." Blake walked into the school with Jay on her shoulder and out came Winter, Weiss's older sister.

"Weiss are you alright!? Are you hurt!?" Winter checked her arms and her face making sure her younger sister is not seriously injured.

"Winter I'm fine."

"I'll be the judge of that. You seem fine." Winter released her sister and looked over the bodies by her.

"What happened to them?"

"I… I don't want to talk about it right now Winter."

"I… I understand. The least you can do is tell me what happened to Professor Ozpin. General Ironwood needs to know about his safety."

"Ozpin… Ozpin is… dead."

"Oh… I see." Winter looked at three paramedics that approached them. They picked up Jaune first and placed him on the stretcher. Weiss stretched her arm out to get a hold on him, but Winter stopped her before she could place her hand one last time on Jaune.

"This is something that tends to happen to Huntsmen and Huntresses Weiss whether you like it or not. If you want to lessen the chance of this happening to your team I suggest you become stronger. Push yourself further so that you can protect the people you love and won't have to face something tragic like this again." Weiss placed her palms on her eyes trying to stop the tears from releasing. She used her hands to wipe it off and wrapped her arms around Winter.

* * *

Morning arrived and the time for answers begun. Nora walked all over the school looking for Ren and Jaune. She stumbled upon Ruby and Blake who had just got out of the infirmary after being treated from their injuries.

"Ruby, Blake. Have any of you seen Ren and Jaune? They must be worried sick about me. I haven't seen them around so do you know where they might be or at least one of them?" Nora asked. Her smile was something that troubled Blake and Ruby. Neither one of them wanted to break the news to her, but it had to be done.

"Uh Nora, I need you to understand that no one wanted this outcome but…" Blake said.

"Jaune is… Jaune's dead." Ruby finished Blake's sentence. Her smile slowly faded away and turned dark. She placed her hand over her mouth and tried to swallow the revelation given to her.

"This… this had to be some sort of joke right? You… you can't be serious? Jaune was fine when we got to the forest, surely he must still be ok?"

"Nora he's dead. You have to believe me." Ruby said. Nora looked at her eyes hoping to see any small detail that could imply that Ruby must be lying but saw none.

"You're serious." Nora started to break down and burst into tears. First Pyrrha and now her leader Jaune.

"This can't be real. What is Ren going to say? What is he going to do? This is going to shatter him. It's only the two of us again. This can't happen again."

"Nora there's more you need to know." Blake said.

"What else is there to know? What else could be possibly worse than Jaune's dea…" Nora stopped. Her face grew pale and there was only one thing that went through her head. She hadn't seen Ren as well.

"No… no don't tell me." Nora said. Her legs started to shake violently until she collapsed onto the floor.

"Nora!" Ruby yelled.

"No this has to be some sort of nightmare. All of this must not be real. There's no way Ren could…" Nora grabbed her hair, pulling it in hopes of waking up and finding Ren making pancakes.

"Nora you need to calm down!"

"How do you expect me to calm down after hearing that the rest of my team are dead!?"

"Nora look at me!" Ruby yelled. Nora stared into Ruby's silver eyes.

"You're not the only one who lost someone close."

"But now… now I'm alone."

"No you aren't alone. There was something Ren wanted me to tell you before he passed. He wanted me to tell you to never stop to look at the past. He wants you to keep moving forward and to never change who you are. He will always… be with you." Nora broke down. That's something that Ren would say.

"How… how did he die?" Nora asked.

"J…" Ruby quickly interrupted Blake before she could tell Nora the truth.

"He sacrificed himself to save Weiss from Salem." Nora wiped the tears from her face and got up from the ground.

"Where is she now?"

"Salem's dead. Jaune killed her." Nora formed a fist, clearly angry at what she had done.

"Good. Someone like her doesn't need to be left roaming Remnant." Nora turned around and walked the other way.

"Nora where are you going?" Ruby asked.

"To get some fresh air. I need some time to take this all in." Nora continued walking not looking back.

"Nora!" Ruby yelled. Nora turned to see what Ruby had to say.

"You're not alone. We're here. Your family is here. I want you to understand that." Nora smiled and continued walking, disappearing into the hallway.

"I'm going to go on ahead and catch up to Nora and help her out a bit." Blake said.

"Okay." Blake followed behind Nora, not letting her take this all in herself. She needs someone close to her right now and Blake doesn't plan on leaving her alone. Not after what just happened a day ago.

* * *

"That's right. We're hovering over Selenial City where Grimm started invading since last night. Witnesses say they felt a terrible breeze fill the city along with an unusual black mist. Reports say that even some of the citizens started to fight, loot, and even escalated to killing one another. Several Huntsmen and Huntresses have already been dispatched into the area along with hundreds of soldiers. We will keep you updated with more information on the incident." A news anchor said as video showing the violence erupting in the area. The mist and Grimm arrived from the forest and only Ruby and the others knew about it. Winter was watching and waiting inside the infirmary room where Jay was being kept. No one was allowed to enter except for her. Everyone else would have to wait outside until Jay had awoken. Luckily for him, Winter was there to prevent his identity from being released to the public.

"I hope you understand the consequences of your actions Vanquisher." Winter said. She sat across from Jay who lay on a bed with monitors monitoring his condition and keeping him stabilized. The infirmary room was like your everyday room in a hospital, a window next to the bed allowing the bright sun shine onto the patient as well as a T.V for him or her to watch as they recovered from their injuries and of course, a table for friends and families to place flowers letters to their loved one. However, that table was completely empty. Winter turned to the door near her to see Ruby open it and enter inside the room. The right side of her face was bandaged up and unlike Jay's injuries, was rapidly healing.

"Good morning Ms. Rose. I hope you are recovering quickly from your injuries." Winter said.

"I'm getting better, but it'll be some time until I can return to my former self." It was obvious to Winter that Ruby wasn't in the greatest mood. She had lost two of her friends, one who she adored and loved. It isn't something that is going to be fixed in a day.

"I'm sorry for your loss. I understand how much Jaune and Ren meant to you can your friends."

"Thank you." Ruby walked over to Jay's bed and looked over him. Winter curious to know why she was here quickly asked her a question.

"If it's not too much to ask, why exactly are you here? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you in bad terms with him?" Winter turned to Jay who was still asleep.

"I don't know how I feel. There are still a lot of questions I want to ask him about Jaune. When he wakes up I'm going to get answers." Ruby said, forming a fist.

"I see. Well you don't have to worry. My men are already on their way here to bring him to Atlas and interrogate him. There's no need for you to…" Ruby cut her off.

"No! I want to hear it from his mouth. I want to know why Jaune chose death over his friends. Jay was with him for a year. I know he understood Jaune more than I could ever do. For heaven's sake they both lost someone precious to them unlike me. I thought I perfectly understood him since I lost my mother, but after what he wanted me to do… and after what he told me… I… just don't know anymore." Ruby placed her hand onto the bed sheet and tightened her grip.

"I don't understand how killing himself and entrusting me is worth his life. I've heard differently and now I'm not too sure who is right. He had a dream like me and threw it all away. Why would he do that?"

"Ruby, every person has their own unique dream. Your dream of changing the world for the better could be different to another which means their way of obtaining it will be much different. I don't know what happened between you and Jaune, but something tells me he did what was best for him, for you and the world." Ruby saw Jay's eyes lids tightening as his head slightly shook. His quiet moans were a sign of discomfort. He must be having a nightmare.

"Jay?" Ruby said, gently moving his left arm. She noticed water trickling down by the end of his left eye.

"Hey Jay." Ruby now raising her voice slightly. Jay's eyes quickly widened and he gasped for air. He didn't move his legs, body, and arms as he quickly scanned the room and was fixated in one particular area. He had trouble moving his neck, but whatever he saw disappeared and he slowly focused at the two women in front of him.

"Ruby? Urgh." Jay groaned. He tried desperately to move his body, but all it did was make the pain much worse.

"Don't try it. It seems you overexerted your muscles all over your body and basically ripped itself apart which nearly lead to a Myocardial Rupture."

"What's Myocar whatever?" Ruby asked.

"Myocardial rupture is a tear that occurs in the muscle layer of the heart wall. The tear can occur in the inner walls which divides the heart into separate chambers or on the outer wall which keeps the circulating blood within the heart. A rupture is more likely to arise when this wall is weakened or unable stretch like with death of the heart muscle. This usually leads to a heart attack which usually leads to death."

"…" Jay turned his head to the window, looking at the cloudy sky.

"Why did you save me? I tried to shoot you to kill Jaune. You should have let your sister killed me." Jay said.

"What would killing you solve?" Ruby responded. Jay took a deep breath and exhaled. The sound of the clock above him continued to tick, reminding him of Ozpin.

"You're not going to ask what happened to Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Why do I need to ask? I already know the outcome."

"What do you mean by I already know?" Ruby asked.

"You're still alive… we're still alive. Jaune couldn't bring himself to kill you. It should be obvious to you of all people."

"You were with him for a year and I want to know why he chose to die over being with the people he loved? I understand that he didn't want to become a menace to the world, but there was a chance to save him and he didn't take it. Even in his last moments, he didn't want help from any of us. Why?"

"Help? You think Jaune wanted help? He didn't want help at all. I have something that will answer your questions, but I can't move at the moment, but I will tell you this. There was nothing to return to for him. He killed his teammate and it seems that he gave you a beating." Jay looked at Ruby's injuries that were wrapped around with bandages.

"If he were to return, if we somehow found a way for him to recover, what would await him? A dead teammate that he killed with his own hands, a teammate who he would have to look at her eyes for the rest of his life knowing that he was the one who killer her loved one and the person he nearly killed. If I were him… I wouldn't want to return." Jay turned his head back to the window where he continued to watch the clouds go by. Ruby found it hard to keep her emotions in check and decided it would be best if she got outside and get some fresh air. She marched out of the room and exited the school.

"That wasn't necessary." Winter stated.

"When I'm able to move again, we're going to have a long chat Winter."

* * *

Three days went by and the teams were still a bit off by what had happened. Jay regained his movements, but still pained him to move. However that didn't deter him to request Ruby, Weiss, and Blake to his room, the room outside of the school that Jaune had taken over after Jay's disappearance. Jay looked at the four armored racks that he kept the living room for his sneaking suits. A spotlight shined over each one, but one of them was changed. One of the armor racks held a bronze chest piece along with a bronze crown, a red drape above the bronze greaves and a pair of tattered brown opera gloves. The whole thing was badly burned, but yet it was clear to Jay who it belonged to. Jay heard footsteps approaching him from behind and turned to see the three girls he called out for.

"What is it that you want?" Blake asked. Jay looked to the entrance of his underground shelter and noticed two other individuals entering inside. It was Nora and Yang.

"There was something that I was entrusted to give to Ruby and Weiss if he ever ended up dead or imprisoned for the rest of his life." Jay pulled out a saucer shaped mechanism that he placed on the white table behind him. He pressed a button and a hologram projection appeared in front of them. It was none other than Jaune Arc, the knight who recently gave his life to protect the world from himself.

"Jaune?" Ruby and Weiss said in unison.

"So is this thing on? I don't want to look like an idiot just like the first day of school." Jaune said.

"It's working. Trust me. Go on ahead and say what you wanted to say." A voice was heard that sounded very similar to Jay.

"Okay. This is meant for Ruby and Weiss who I have not seen for half a year. I… don't know where to start. I guess the best place to begin with is to say… I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I disappeared like that and didn't bother reaching any of you. The truth is, I don't want to bring you any more trouble that you already have in your plate. I don't want you to get involved with the mayhem I have brought to the kingdoms. None of you deserve this kind of life. I have done… questionable things that would make all of you look different at me. You might go far as to say you no longer know me, but if it means that you will no longer be in trouble because of my actions then that's okay. I don't care what the world thinks of me, whether as an enemy or a friend. I figured out recently that I can't save everyone, so the only thing I can do as of now is keeping my friends safe and the two of you happy." Jaune got down on one knee and reached his arms out. He perfectly placed his hands on top of Weiss's and Ruby's head.

"I know the two of you will never change your feelings for me even if I happened to go dark side, but I want the both of you to know… that I will always look over you. I know what you want to hear out of my mouth and I'm not sure if it will have the same meaning to you two but, I love the both of you with all my heart and nothing will ever change that. I wish I could give you the care and attention that the both of you deserve I really do, but this road I'm taking… it's something that I alone have to endure. Take care the two of you and I know for certainty that I can rely on all of you to make these kingdoms a better place for everyone to live in if something happens to me. Goodbye." Jaune stood back up and stood proudly with his hand on his sheathe and his eyes forward, staring at what the team thinks is the future of Remnant. The hologram remained still which Jay proceeded to move his armor stand and instead place the hologram of Jaune Arc right next to Pyrrha's scorched armor set. Ruby and Weiss looked each other's eyes realizing that the both of them were dripping with tears this whole time. They looked down on the ground realizing once more that their loved one is no longer with them. Nora too was crying at the sight of her leader no longer leading her. She looked at the four armor stands and saw herself, Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren standing proudly of what would have been their future. She was the last remaining member of team JNPR and it all came crashing towards her once more.

"Jaune may have not seen it before, but I'm sure he realized it moments before his death that you have something that he wanted to have and that is to believe at not only yourself, but in your team. You all have each other and can count on one another in times of need. Jaune believed shouldering all that trouble will help everyone else, but as we saw it only broke him down and caused his death." Jay walked over to a container and pulled out another hologram and gave it to Blake.

"What's this for?" Blake asked.

"It will help you understand the dark much more efficiently and hopefully stop you from ending up like him. Inside it contains hologram recordings of Jaune talking about his dark power and how he managed it. He made this in case if we ever came across someone with the same power." Jay handed it to her and walked over to a shelf by Yang where he kept his sigil box.

"Where's my gun?" Jay asked about his sigil one shot pistol. Yang glared at him and responded with in an annoyed tone.

"Away from you."

"I'm serious Yang. Give it back." Jay stretched his arm out expecting Yang to returning his weapon.

"I'll give you back your gun, but only if you promise me something."

"What do you want me to promise?" Jay asked. Yang pulled out his gun out of her jacket and slammed it on his hand.

"To never come near me or my friends again." Her eyes turned crimson to show that she wasn't joking around. She was dead serious about this.

"…Okay… yeah sure." She released her grip on his gun and Jay placed it in his holster.

"Yang." Weiss said. Jay grabbed his box and headed towards the exit of the room, but was immediately stopped by a group of Atlas soldiers that were behind Winter.

"What's the meaning of this?" Jay asked.

"You're too dangerous for everyone Jay. It's best if you remained behind bars for now. Winter promised that your identity will be hidden in order to maintain what good relations our kingdoms still have with Mistral. To the world, Jay Vanquisher is dead." Yang said. The soldiers got closer to Jay to which he stepped back.

"I expected that you would do something like this. To be honest, it seems like the best idea. Just… now right now." Jay opened the box and pulled out Raven's katana. Yang, shocked at what she was seeing looked at Ruby and yelled,

"Ruby! How did he get that katana!?"

"I don't know! I didn't tell anyone about the weapon. I only talked about it with Blake in our rooms!" Yang turned to Jay who slashed through the air and looked back at them once more before jumping inside.

"Damn it!" Yang yelled. Yang rushed towards the portal and attempted to jump in it before it completely disappeared but as she jumped it vanished.

"Damn him!" Yang punched the ground repeatedly, frustrated that he managed to find and run away with a weapon entrusted for safe keeping.

"How the hell did he find out where I hid it?"

* * *

 **One Week Later…**

Team RWBY and the last remaining member of team JNPR, Nora, walked over to a small hill where they made a memorial for Jaune and Ren. Two stones were left that looked very similar to that of Summer Rose. This hill had a gorgeous view at the sun setting at the distance and allowed them to see the woods and students coming in and out of Beacon. A cool breeze swept through the area moving all brushes and leaves in the small secluded area.

"I'll continue what Jaune wanted and I'll make sure that things will not end up the same way as before. I know very well that violence isn't the key to solving this world's problems and the way to do it will be a slow process, but gradually it will become a reality." Ruby said, confidently that this is the best way to reach her goal.

"We'll continue what Jaune wanted. Remember that the only reason why he wasn't able to do this was because he took on everything by himself. We have each other to rely on and neither one of us will let the other fall." Weiss stated.

"It will be a slow process, but time is what we have. Violence will come sooner or later, but I know we're ready for whatever life throws us now." Blake said.

"That's right. We're not going to let this stop us from moving forward and I already know who my first target is." Yang said.

"You're still going to go after Jay?" Blake asked.

"Of course. He has something that does not belong to him and I'll make sure that I get it back. I guarantee it." Yang said smashing her fists together.

"If you ever need help, you know where I'll be." Nora said. Ruby walked over to her and placed her hand over her shoulder.

"We're always going to need your help. Which is why you're coming with us." Ruby said.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. You're part of our family and family never turn their backs on their own." Nora smiled and hugged her.

"Well then… let's get started." Weiss said.

"There's something that I have to do first." Blake said.

"What's that?" Yang asked.

"Since some of the White Fang soldiers found out about the involvement of Adam with the Mistral incident, the organization itself has been split in two. Today I was asked if I was interested in becoming their leader.

"That's great!" Ruby yelled.

"Yeah it kinda is. Maybe I will be able to lead them back to the right direction. To the time where violence wasn't the answer."

"See, it seems things are going our way already." Weiss stated.

"I have a good feeling about this. A new beginning with a great start!" Ruby yelled, hugging Weiss tightly.

"I need space Ruby."

* * *

Snow fell from the sky onto Atlas' school. The school was massive considering that not only was it a school itself, but it housed the kingdom's greatest scientists and engineers. This is where many of modern day technology have been created. Since the school and the government weren't two separate entities, all students are part of the military and trained as soldiers rather than students. Unlike the other schools, this one had the most promising Huntsmen and Huntresses that paved way to a better future. As the snow continued to fall, a man with a navy blue bandana wrapped around his left bicep along with military style black boots and navy blue tactical pants as well as a pair of ash armored knee pads could be seen in the distance approaching the General's living quarters. His ash colored long sleeve shirt covered by a bulky sleeveless jacket became visible as he got closer. His face was now visible to the soldiers guarding the door to General Ironwood's quarters.

"Stop right there sir. State your purpose." One of the soldiers asked.

"I'm here to see General Ironwood." The man said.

"Sorry that's not possible. The General made it clear that he doesn't want any visitors tonight." The other soldier said.

"I have authorization to talk to him." The man pulled out an I.D that higher ranking members had in order to enter unauthorized areas.

"Sorry, but no can do. You'll just have to catch him tomorrow."

"I don't have time for this." The man kneed the soldier directly at his abdomen and elbowed him with his ash ironed elbow pads on the back of his head when he bent forward. The man then pulled his focus onto the next soldier. He pushed the soldier's gun to the side and grabbed him by the left side of his face and smashed it onto the door injuring the man.

"I just lost two of my closest friends. I am not in the mood. You're going to take me to General Ironwood or else you'll just have to ask him to build you a new arm after I'm done with you."

"O-okay just let me go!" The man did what he was asked and the soldier led him inside. The inside of the building was bright and white. Ivory pillars kept the structure stable and the marble ground made this place look like a palace. The hallway was massive, filled with soldiers and staff communicating with one another and watched the two enter the room where the General was at.

"R&D huh." The man said. The soldier opened the door and let the man in to which he finally made eye contact with the General. Next to the general was an elegant woman with white luscious hair. It was none other than one of the heirs of the Schnee dust company Winter Schnee.

"Ah… Mr. Vanquisher. I was wondering if you were going to make it on time. Ms. Schnee here just arrived before you." Jay glared at the Schnee heiress and returned his look at the General.

"So what did you find out?" The General asked.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Ozpin, Raven Branwen, and Salem died in combat."

"It's a shame what happened to the boys and Ozpin. Had Jaune chosen to come along with me none of this would have happened. The only thing we can do now is move on and look for another way to get the power we need to protect the kingdom and make sure that if a war does break out between Atlas and Mistral we will remain at the top.

"There's more you need to know." Jay said.

"What is it?"

"Blake Belladonna awakened the darkness that Jaune once had. Whether his death is correlated with her awakening it is currently unknown however this could prove to be useful to you."

"Is that so? She awakened the dark? This definitely will be useful for us, however she could become a problem to humanity if she isn't taken care of soon."

"I assure you that she won't become like Jaune. Unlike him, she thinks more rationally and doesn't let her emotions cloud her judgement. I can vouch for her and I will continue to look over her and if a problem does arise you can be sure that I will take care of it before it can escalate further."

"This is the first time in a long time since you started to show concern for a person Mr. Vanquisher what exactly happened when you came back?" The Headmaster asked. Jay ignored the question and continued to speak about the other discovery.

"Yang Xiao Long has inherited one of the Maiden powers. I'm sure of it, but who it belonged to before is unknown to me."

"So Yang Xiao Long inherited Amber's maiden powers? Very interesting."

"Amber?" Jay silently said. He remembered a girl who was named Amber that came out of Ozpin's office along with Jaune when he left to Mistral.

 _"_ _Could it be her that had the maiden power?"_ Jay wondered.

"Which power did she inherit?"

"That doesn't concern you for now. Winter, stay in contact with your sister and we might be able to recruit her for our cause. She is a fighter like Mr. Vanquisher here and if I'm not mistaken you two are in good terms?"

"Not necessarily."

"I see. Well in any case I'm counting on you Winter to befriend her."

"Yes sir." Winter said. Jay walked over to Winter and gave her a small external hard drive. He slammed it on the palm of her hand, irritated by something she did.

"Here's the information that I managed to gather from most of the students of Beacon including team RWBY and the former team JNPR." Winter gave a scornful look and shifted to a more calm and relaxed look. She reached towards his shoulder and placed her hand over it and as she did a freezing breeze swept around her hand and slowly started to freeze his shoulder.

"I'd watch my tone if I were you. You wouldn't want to get someone like me furious." Winter said. As she continued to freeze Jay's shoulder he activated his semblance causing her hand to go through him and him grabbing her arm and moving it out of his way.

"I understand Ice Queen."

"Now, now let's not start this. We have a lot of things to take care of today. Penny!" Ironwood yelled. A girl with orange hair appeared in front of them who looked about Ruby's age.

"Hello General, is there something I can do for you?" Penny asked.

"How do you feel about reuniting with your friend Ruby again?"

"Ruby!? Is she here?" Penny started to look around for her friend in the room.

"No she's not her, but you can go visit her if you'd like."

"That would be great! When should I go?"

"Not right now, we'll wait for a while until things start moving. Jay I don't need you at the moment so I would like to know where you will stay for the time being." Jay turned to Ironwood and thought long and carefully of where he was going to go and there was one place he had in mind that he was going to return.

"I'm going to take a break from all of this so I'm going home."

"Home?" General Ironwood asked.

"I'm returning to Victorville."

* * *

 ***GASP*** Jaune took a deep breath as he awoke from what was his death. He was lying down on the ground covered in leaves and dirt. He looked around his surrounding and realized he was in a heavily forested area, however, something was wrong about this place. The environment had absolutely no color. The trees weren't brown, the leaves weren't green, red, or orange, the ground wasn't tan or brown. This whole place was grey and black as if it were night and no color can be differentiated.

"Pyrrha!?" Jaune yelled out. He looked at his body and remembered what had happened. He was stabbed in the heart yet here he is still alive… at least that's what he thought.

 _"_ _Where am I?"_

"Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang!?" Jaune continued to yell until he heard footsteps behind him. He quickly turned and realized it was Salem. The woman he had been fighting.

"How are you alive?" Jaune asked as he took his stance as if he were ready to fight, but he realized he didn't have his weapon with him.

"I don't know, but I don't like the feeling of this place." Salem said. It was then Jaune realized that Salem no longer had those black red eyes she had. Her hair wasn't the same either and instead had a more black color to it with the front of her hair slightly grey. From the forest inside they heard the sounds of growling and loud roars approaching them.

"What the hell was that?" Jaune asked.

"They sound very similar to Grimm."

The two looked around and noticed that they are surrounded by red glowing eyes that hid behind the heavy fog that filled the forest. There were too many for them to handle. Jaune tried to activate his dark aura, but it didn't work. It was completely gone.

"I can't activate the dark." Jaune said.

"Neither can I." Salem also said.

"Salem, I think we better…" When he turned to Salem she had disappeared and he was now alone to face the beasts that surrounded him.

"Somebody... please help."

 **And this is where the road ends for this story. I'm pondering whether or not I should make a sequel to this which I am still wondering whether it should be focused on a single person like this story or it should be equally divided with a two or three characters. As you can see this is pretty much a cliffhanger ending which might continue onto another separate story. If you are looking forward to that then I guess that something to stick around for, but if it doesn't interest to you then thank you for taking a time to following and favorite this story. This is the first story I have ever done in my life and I actually enjoyed doing it. I always wanted to do something like this and this site was perfect for it. We reached over a hundred favorites and follows which to be honest I expected only 30 or fewer. I would like to take this time to thank those who to my knowledge were the first ones to take the time to read my fanfic.**

 **Wagner was one of the first who left a review. I'm not sure if he is still here or not, but whether he is or isn't I would like to thank him for taking some time of his day to read it and leave a review.**

 **Neutral40 is another who did the same thing and I would like to say thank you as well and as I said before, if you remained here towards the bitter end you are a trooper and I commend you for that.**

 **There are a few more who are also a part of it, but they were mostly guests, but I thank you all nonetheless.**

 **Well, this is it. This is where I go on a very long hiatus and whether I do end up making a sequel depends on whether I want to or other people want me to and if you would like me to continue this then be sure to tell me in the reviews or PM me. It doesn't matter if only a single person wants me to continue, I aim to please as many people as possible. So with RWBY volume 4 releasing later today I hope you all enjoy Roosterteeth's production and I hope that I will enjoy it as well. Until the end of the volume 4 this is goodbye for now! Thanks once again for staying with me to the end! BYE!**


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